Intentional Community: Architecture Can Form Community for Vanlifers

Abstract

What is the potential of community-based infrastructure for vanlifers? Vanlife is an ever-growing movement across North America and the rest of the world. Driven by high costs of living, mundane desk jobs, poor quality of life, and the urge to be free, thousands of people are packing up their houses and apartments and moving into self-converted full-size cargo vans. Vanlifers tend to gravitate towards each other, creating a community on the road. In the vans there is little space for necessities such as toilets, bathing facilities, room to workout, and space to do work. This article works to use research on intentional communities to design and create a network of vanlife communities across the country.