This guide maps the thesis from its research question through its recommendations, then walks the reader through the Baltimore tiny-homes primer. It summarizes the 2020 thesis as written; treat code, legislation, costs, statistics, and program status as historical claims that need current verification before use. [1]

Primary source: Open the thesis document.

Thesis in one paragraph

The thesis asks how tiny homes might be reintroduced to benefit Black Baltimoreans, arguing that small permanent homes could help repopulate vacant land, widen housing choice, and rebuild neighborhood fabric—but only when legality, cost, infrastructure, design, public trust, and Baltimore’s history of racialized housing are handled together. Tiny homes are presented not as a universal fix or a lifestyle everyone should want, but as an additional option that residents should be able to choose. [1]

Section-by-section guide

Front matter: abstract, dedication, acknowledgments

The abstract frames the central problem: Baltimore’s housing inequities and vacancy require pragmatic alternatives, while residents’ skepticism reflects lived experience—not simply resistance to change. It introduces the research, local questionnaires, proposed neighborhood tools, five recommendations, and the primer. The dedication and acknowledgments establish the personal and academic context for the project. [1]

Chapter 1 — Introduction: “What is home to you?”

The introduction moves from Baltimore’s rowhouse identity and population loss to the mismatch between vacant lots, costly conventional construction, and unmet housing need. It argues that small, permanent homes could fit some vacant parcels and some residents’ needs, but that siting, financing, infrastructure, building rules, and neighborhood acceptance determine whether the idea works. The chapter closes with the study’s roadmap and methodology. [1]

Methodology — how the research was done

The project uses a qualitative, ethnographic approach: three questionnaire types (residents, builders/developers, and housing advocates), three community listening sessions, and open-ended responses intended to capture values and lived experience as well as simple counts. The analysis groups recurring sentiments, compares them with the literature, and gives added attention to comments about race and discrimination. The research question is practical and equity-focused: how can tiny homes be reintroduced in ways that benefit Black Baltimoreans rather than reproduce exclusion? [1]

Chapter 2 — Literature and best practices

This chapter assembles three strands of research and applies them to Baltimore:

• The tiny-house movement: Defines dwelling types and the role of Appendix Q guidance, then examines autonomy, downsizing, “home,” and who can afford the legal and financial risks of living tiny. The literature cautions against treating a lifestyle marketed as freedom as equally accessible to everyone.
• Creating community in the city: Connects intentional-community research, visual-preference surveying, service-rich models for at-risk residents, and design of pocket neighborhoods. It considers shared amenities, privacy, neighborliness, walkability, and how small homes might repair vacant “interstices” without overwhelming infrastructure.
• Urban housing and the Black experience: Traces Baltimore’s housing history, segregation, alley homes, and unequal access to place. Black geographies and first-person accounts complicate the mainstream tiny-house narrative: smaller living can enable autonomy and access, but racialized exclusion and historical harm make skepticism understandable.

The chapter’s contribution is to bridge tiny-living values and community design with the historical and policy conditions that determine who can actually benefit. [1]