Possibilities for Sustainable Futurity: examining the radical potential of Small, Mobile Living Structures and the Capitol Hill Organized Protest in achieving sustainability

Abstract

Paper 1- The Social Practice of Living in Small Mobile Living Structures: A Case Study in theUSA This paper will explore the practice of living in a Small Mobile Living Structure to assess their suitability as a sustainable housing option which incorporates both social and environmental well-being. Using a social practice theory framework and interviews with 8 households and one manufacturer, I outline the practice of living in a tiny house, converted van or RV, which I combine under the category ‘Small Mobile Living Structure’ (SMLS). Analysing key features of the tiny movements such as reduced consumerism; their place and spatiality; mobility; and community allows me to draw conclusions about the range of radical political potentials which could be realized through SMLS. Ultimately, SMLS provide one viable path of imagining otherwise for a more equitable and healthy future. However, more research is needed into the nuances of this lifestyle and to better indicate the likelihood of these radical political potentials being realised. Paper 2 - Imagining Otherwise: Presenting Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) as a Case Study in Sustainability Over the summer of 2020, the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) occupied a few blocks in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, Seattle. This space arose in response to the police violence at Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in June 2020. CHOP was a police-free zone based around the East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department, where some lived and many protested. This space, and the people involved, were labelled ‘terrorists’ by President Trump. I argue that CHOP is among one of the best examples of ‘imagining otherwise’ for a more sustainable future due to the practices and methods of relationality it foregrounded. My fieldwork shows that CHOP centered meeting community needs, health and healing for BIPOC, and anti-racist education. It was common to see free food distributed and people contributing to the community gardens. However, my discourse analysis indicates that CHOP was rarely presented in this way in the media; instead, the focus was on the violence erupting around CHOP’s borders. I compare CHOP to another more permanent sustainability landmark located only blocks away, The Bullitt Center. When this building appears in the media, it is always praised for its sustainability through the use of biophilic design. This paper presents CHOP as a case study in sustainability and interrogates why it is not usually presented as such, through comparative discourse analyses of CHOP and the Bullitt Center, placed in context through primary fieldwork. In doing so, I argue for new ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies of sustainability.