Van dwelling in Scotland: what are we missing and where should we go next?

Van dwelling is the act of living on wheels on a temporary or permanent basis. Social media and popular culture suggest that ‘vanlife’ is a growing phenomenon. We undertook a study to explore the experiences, challenges and opportunities of van dwelling across Scotland, including an evidence-gathering workshop with van dwellers and representatives from relevant organisations where we used creative methods to foster discussion. Through this work we identified two key gaps in understanding: (1) that there is a greater diversity of van dwelling experiences than is widely known; and (2) that a range of challenges arises because of this lack of understanding. We suggest a novel four-part agenda to: (1) extend the research focus beyond van dwelling to include a wider range of vehicles; (2) represent the diversity of experiences shaping vehicular dwelling; (3) diversify the voices shaping these understandings, through new participatory and creative ways of engagement; and (4) conduct further research to better understand how unique these trends are to Scotland, and how such trends may change in the future.