Emplacing category dynamics: Houselessness and the emergence of transitional micro-housing villages

Abstract

Recent studies suggest a critical yet unexplored role for local places such as cities and communities in category research. In this study, I investigate how places, as the nexus of cultural, political, and material influences, can shape category dynamics, especially in the early phases of category emergence. I synthesize insights from category work with recent conceptualizations of places as geographically bounded spaces, imbued with meanings and material forms. I conducted an in-depth qualitative field study of the emergence and expansion of a new category, transitional micro-housing villages, also known as Tiny Home Villages, in Eugene, a mid-size city in the United States in 2011–2019. The study unpacks the role of nested places in triggering, enabling, and constraining actors and their work to create, legitimate, and expand a category. Specifically, I highlight the role of local material forms and how actors can mobilize local spaces, technologies, and practices to advance their goals in contested category dynamics.