Lubna Alli

Van life, which is a rapidly growing lifestyle where people all over the world are converting vans into rolling homes to explore more, connect with nature, and lower the cost of accommodations, became a main topic of discussion in the first week of class. I was timid to tell a room of strangers that this was one of my passions, but much to my surprise, there was a positive reception from my colleagues.

Throughout the class, the discussion bounced back to van life, and then class was dismissed and I went home to continue binging more van life content on YouTube. Then I got to thinking about the logistics of how this would work if it were to come into fruition as planned a few years from now. What mailing address would I use? Would I have to pay property taxes? Can you just buy a strip of land just to park the van on? What about running water? Or fighting brutal Canadian winters? And one of my main concerns, are there any safer alternatives aside from living in a trailer park?

As I do with all my questions and concerns, I jumped to Google and typed in the words “Is van life illegal?” Not much came up aside from Reddit threads and blog posts from fellow van lifers. From the information I had gathered, there were no sanctions made for van dwellers in legislative form. Some forums say that it is legal because no U.S. federal, state, or local law absolutely requires American citizens or residents to have a physical address, that is, to either own or rent real estate. Others say you run into trouble with the law when it comes to parking by-laws and having home utilities (ex. a bed, a kitchen, a toilet) exposed in the van. Van life, in other words, is the less glamorous version of RVing, which is legal. In order to make it legal you would have to go through an extensive process of registering your van as an RV. Due to these large issues with overnight parking, this why some van lifers tend to live a life that is nomadic and pick up and go.

What are some ways that cities can make this easier for van lifers? An excellent solution may be a pit stop point that provides free (or low cost) overnight parking with access to water pumps and bathrooms. Similar to a campsite for travellers.

For van lifers that are more set on the permanent way of living small, they made need considerations for running water, access to propane, and safer alternatives to plots of land aside from those in a trailer park. This may continue to be a larger problem in the grand scheme of things for van lifers who plan on having children and raising a family in a tiny home. Trailer parks are often ridden with drugs and alcohol abuse, among other types of behavior that is not appropriate to raise young kids. How can we design more safe designated neighborhoods, so to speak, for tiny homes? What amenities can we include to sell this plot of land to park your van or tiny home on? What are the stipulations with this and how can we overcome these issues as city planners to accommodate to this growing community? As Zahra has suggested, I’ve been compiling a list of things that I’m picking up on in the city that bother me or that need solutions. What great idea could be my next big break? Maybe this newfound territory of vanlife policy might just be it!