Ahome, ordomicile, is aspace used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or morehuman occupants, and sometimes variouscompanion animals. It is a fully- or semi-sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it.[vague] Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instancerooms, where domestic activity can be performed such as sleeping, preparing food, eating and hygiene as well as providing spaces for work and leisure such as remote working, studying and playing.
Physical forms of homes can be static such as ahouse or anapartment, mobile such as ahouseboat,trailer oryurt or digital such as virtual space.[1] The aspect of 'home' can be considered across scales; from the micro scale showcasing the most intimate spaces of the individual dwelling and direct surrounding area to the macro scale of the geographic area such astown,village,city,country orplanet.
The concept of 'home' has been researched and theorized across disciplines – topics ranging from the idea of home, the interior, the psyche, liminal space, contested space to gender and politics.[2] The home as a concept expands beyond residence as contemporary lifestyles and technological advances redefine the way the global population lives and works.[citation needed] The concept and experience encompasses the likes ofexile, yearning,belonging, homesickness and homelessness.[3]
The earliest homes that humans inhabited were likely naturally occurring features such ascaves. The earliest humanfossils found in caves come from a series of caves near Krugersdorp and Mokopane in South Africa. The cave sites ofSterkfontein,Swartkrans,Kromdraai B,Drimolen,Malapa, Cooper's D, Gladysvale, Gondolin and Makapansgat have yielded a range of early human species dating back to between three and one million years ago, includingAustralopithecus africanus,Australopithecus sediba andParanthropus robustus. However, it is not generally thought that these early humans were living in the caves, but that they were brought into the caves by carnivores that had killed them.[citation needed]
The first early hominid ever found in Africa, theTaung Child in 1924, was also thought for many years to come from a cave, where it had been deposited after being preyed upon by an eagle. However, this is now debated.[4] Caves do form in the dolomite of theGhaap Plateau, including the Early, Middle and Later Stone Age site ofWonderwerk Cave; however, the caves that form along the escarpment's edge, like that hypothesized for the Taung Child, are formed within a secondary limestone deposit calledtufa. There is numerous evidence for other early human species inhabiting caves from at least one million years ago in different parts of the world, includingHomo erectus in China atZhoukoudian,Homo rhodesiensis in South Africa at the Cave of Hearths (Makapansgat),Homo neanderthalensis andHomo heidelbergensis in Europe atArchaeological Site of Atapuerca,Homo floresiensis in Indonesia, and theDenisovans in southern Siberia.
In southern Africa, early modern humans regularly used sea caves as shelter starting about 180,000 years ago when they learned to exploit the sea for the first time.[5] The oldest known site is PP13B atPinnacle Point. This may have allowed rapid expansion of humans out of Africa and colonization of areas of the world such as Australia by 60–50,000 years ago. Throughout southern Africa, Australia, and Europe, early modern humans used caves and rock shelters as sites for rock art, such as those atGiants Castle. Caves such as theyaodong in China were used for shelter; other caves were used for burials (such asrock-cut tombs), or as religious sites (such asBuddhist caves). Among the known sacred caves are China's Cave of a Thousand Buddhas[6] and thesacred caves of Crete. As technology progressed, humans and other hominids began constructing their own dwellings. Buildings such ashuts andlonghouses have been used for living since the lateNeolithic.[7]
Ancient era
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Post-classical era
From the 14th to the 16th century, homelessness was perceived of as a "vagrancy problem" and legislative responses to the problem were predicated upon the threat it may pose to the state.[8]
Modern era
Industrialization brought mass migration to cities. This one-room worker home fromHelsinki is typical to late 19th century and early 20th century, often housing large families.[9]
According toKirsten Gram-Hanssen, "It can be argued that historically and cross-culturally there is not always [a] strong relation between the concept of home and the physical building, and that this mode of thinking is rooted inthe Enlightenment of the seventeenth century".[10] Before, one's home was more public than private; traits such as privacy, intimacy and familiarity would proceed to achieve greater prominence, aligning the concept with thebourgeoisie.[11][12] The connection between home and house was reinforced by acase law declaration fromEdward Coke: "The house of everyman is to him as his castle and fortress, as well as his defense against injury and violence, as for his repose". Colloquially, this was adapted into the phrase "The Englishman's home is his castle" which popularised the notion of home as house.[13]
A result of the longstanding association between home and women, 18th century English women, of upper-class status, were scorned for pursuing activities outside of the home, thus seen to be of undesirable character.[14] The concept of home took on unprecedent prominence by the 18th century, reified by cultural practice.[15]
The concept of asmart home arose in the 19th century in turn with electricity having been introduced to homes in a limited capacity.[10] The distinction between home and work formulated in the 20th century, with home acting as sanctuary.[16] Modern definitions portray home as a site of supreme comfort and familial intimacy, operating as a buffer to the greater world.[14]
The concept of home is one with multiple interpretations, influenced by one's history and identity.[17] People of differing ages, genders, ethnicities and classes may have resultingly different meanings of home.[18] Commonly, it is associated with various forms of abodes such as wagons, cars, boats or tents although it is equally considered to extend beyond the space, in mind and emotion.[8][19][20] The space of a home need not be significant or fixed though the boundaries of home are often tied to the space.[19][20] There have been multiple theories regarding one's choice of home with the residential conditions of their childhood often reflected in their later choice of home.[11] According toPaul Oliver, the vast majority of abodes arevernacular, constructed in accordance with the residents' needs.[21]
The social unit that lives in a house is known as ahousehold. Most commonly, a household is afamily unit of some kind, although households may also be othersocial groups, such asroommates or, in arooming house, unconnected individuals. Some houses only have a dwelling space for one family or similar-sized group; larger houses calledtownhouses orrow houses may contain numerous family dwellings in the same structure. A house may be accompanied by outbuildings, such as agarage for vehicles or ashed for gardening equipment and tools. A house may have abackyard or afront yard or both, which serve as additional areas where inhabitants can relax or eat.[citation needed] Houses may provide "certain activities, which gradually accumulate meaning until they become homes".[20]
Joseph Rykwert distinguished between home and house in their physicality; a house requires a building whereas a home does not.[24]Home andhouse are often used interchangeably, although their connotations may differ:house being "emotionally neutral" andhome evoking "personal, cognitive aspects".[20][25] By the mid-18th century, the definition of home had extended beyond a house.[15] "Few English words are filled with the emotional meaning of the word home".[14]
Home as constitutionally mobile and transient has been contended by anthropologists and sociologist.[26] Amobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is aprefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Used as permanent homes, or for holiday or temporary accommodation, they are often left permanently or semi-permanently in one place, but can be moved, and may be required to move from time to time for legal reasons.
Ahouseboat is aboat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usuallymoored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities. However, many are capable of operation under their own power. Float house is a Canadian and American term for a house on a float (raft); a rough house may be called a shanty boat.[27] In Western countries, houseboats tend to be either owned privately or rented out to holiday-goers, and on some canals in Europe, people dwell in houseboats all year round. Examples of this include, but are not limited to, Amsterdam, London, and Paris.[28]
A traditionalyurt or ger is a portable round tent covered with skins orfelt and used as a dwelling by several distinctnomadic groups in thesteppes of Central Asia. The structure consists of an angled assembly or latticework of wood orbamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden platform; they may use modern materials such as steam-bent wooden framing or metal framing, canvas or tarpaulin, plexiglass dome, wire rope, orradiant insulation.
999 N. Lake Shore Drive, a co-op–owned residential building inChicago,Illinois
Ahousing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which ownsreal estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually acooperative or acorporation and constitutes a form ofhousing tenure. Typically housing cooperatives are owned by shareholders but in some cases they can be owned by a non-profit organization. They are a distinctive form of home ownership that have many characteristics that differ from other residential arrangements such assingle family home ownership,condominiums andrenting.[29]
The cooperative is membership based, with membership granted by way of a share purchase in the cooperative. Eachshareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit. A primary advantage of the housing cooperative is the pooling of the members' resources so that their buying power is leveraged; thus lowering the cost per member in all the services and products associated with home ownership.
A person making these repairs to a house after a flood
Home repair involves the diagnosis and resolution of problems in a home, and is related to home maintenance to avoid such problems. Many types of repairs are "do it yourself" (DIY) projects, while others may be so complicated, time-consuming or risky as to require the assistance of a qualifiedhandyperson,property manager,contractor/builder, or otherprofessionals.
Home repair is not the same asrenovation, although many improvements can result from repairs or maintenance. Often the costs of larger repairs will justify the alternative of investment in full-scale improvements. It may make just as much sense to upgrade a home system (with an improved one) as to repair it or incur ever-more-frequent and expensive maintenance for an inefficient, obsolete or dying system.
Housekeeping is the management and routine support activities of running and maintaining an organized physical institution occupied or used by people, like ahouse,ship,hospital orfactory, such ascleaning, tidying/organizing,cooking,shopping, and bill payment. These tasks may be performed by members of thehousehold, or bypersons hired for the purpose. This is a more broad role than acleaner, who is focused only on the cleaning aspect.[30] The term is also used to refer to the money allocated for such use.[31] By extension, it may also refer to an office or a corporation, as well as themaintenance ofcomputer storage systems.[32]
The basic concept can be divided into domestic housekeeping, for private households, and institutional housekeeping for commercial and other institutions providing shelter or lodging, such as hotels, resorts, inns, boarding houses, dormitories, hospitals and prisons.[33][34] There are related concepts in industry known as workplace housekeeping and Industrial housekeeping, which are part of occupational health and safety processes.
Ahousekeeper is a person employed to manage a household[35] and thedomestic staff. According to the 1861 Victorian eraMrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, the housekeeper is second in command in the house and "except in large establishments, where there is a house steward, the housekeeper must consider herself as the immediate representative of her mistress".[36]
Housing tenure is a financial arrangement and ownership structure under which someone has the right to live in ahouse orapartment. The most frequent forms aretenancy, in whichrent is paid by the occupant to alandlord, andowner-occupancy, where the occupant owns their own home. Mixed forms of tenure are also possible.
The basic forms of tenure can be subdivided, for example an owner-occupier may own a house outright, or it may bemortgaged. In the case of tenancy, the landlord may be a private individual, anon-profit organization such as ahousing association, or a government body, as inpublic housing.
Surveys used insocial science research frequently include questions about housing tenure, because it is a usefulproxy for income or wealth, and people are less reluctant to give information about it.
Notice of renting availability at the Villa Freischütz inMeran in 1911Renting, also known as hiring[38] or letting,[39] is an agreement where a payment is madefor the use of a good, service orproperty owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement (orlease) is signed to establish the roles and expectations of both thetenant andlandlord. There are many different types of leases.[40] The type and terms of a lease are decided by the landlord and agreed upon by the renting tenant.
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential that the squatter does notown, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. TheUnited Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting is practiced worldwide, typically when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing.
The state of being without a home can occur in many ways,[41] ranging from the upheavals ofnatural disasters,[42] fraud, theft,arson, or war-related destruction, to the more common voluntary sale, loss for one or more occupants on relationship breakdown,expropriation by government or legislated cause, repossession orforeclosure to pay secured debts,eviction bylandlords, disposal by time-limited means –lease, or absolute gift. Jurisdiction-dependent means of home loss includeadverse possession, unpaidproperty taxation and corruption such as in circumstances of afailed state.
Personal insolvency, development or sustaining ofmental illness or severe physical incapacity without affordabledomestic care commonly lead to a change of home. The underlying character of a home may be debased bystructural defects, naturalsubsidence,neglect orsoil contamination.Refugees are people who have fled their homes due to violence orpersecution. They may seek temporary housing in a shelter or they may claimasylum in another country in an attempt to relocate permanently.[citation needed] A dysfunctional home life commonly precipitates one's homelessness.[41]
The dichotomy between home and homelessness is to the extent that the concept of home, scholars have said, is dependent on homelessness: "in a sense, without homelessness, we would not be concerned with what home means".[41]
Anthropogenic significance
A celebratory poster for soldiers and marines returning home
The connection between humans and dwelling is profound, such that, the likes ofGaston Bachelard andMartin Heidegger consider it an "essential characteristic" of humanity.[25] A home is generally a place that is close to the heart of the owner, and can become a prized possession. It has been argued that psychologically "The strongest sense of home commonly coincides geographically with a dwelling. Usually, the sense of home attenuates as one moves away from that point, but it does not do so in a fixed or regular way."[43] A person's conception of home can be dependent on congealing conditions, such as culture, geography or emotion; the sense of being at home may be contingent upon the presence of multiple emotions, such as joy, sorrow, nostalgia and pride.[44][45] Further psychological interperation contends that homes serve the purpose of satisfying identity-based desires and expression and that it functions as a "symbol of the self", bound to the events of one's life.[18][46]Emmanuel Levinas wrote of home as where, upon seclusion from the greater world, a sense of self can be regained.[47]
There exist many connotations regarding the concept of a home, including of security, identity, ritual and socialisation, varied definitions and residents may associate their home with meanings, emotions, experiences and relationships.[10][11][48] Home has been described as an "essentially contested concept".[49] Common connotations of home are espoused by both those with or without a home.[8] It is the sociality and action of homes which some scholars have said conditions a house in to a home, which is, according to Gram-Hanssen, "aphenomenon made by its residents".[50] Dysfunctional sociality may negate the sense of a residence being a home whereas the physical contents may endow the sense; alienated from home one may feel "metaphorically homeless".[51][52][a] Romantic or nostalgic notions are typical in the conceptions of "ideal homes", at once a cultural and individual concept.[13][53] An ideal working-class home inPostwar Britain was one of comfort and cleanliness, plentiful with food and compassion.[54]
In modern America, an owned house has greater cachet as a home than other residences; debate exists as to if a rooming house can provide a home.[11][55] Some housing scholars have contended that a conflation of house and home is the result of popular media and capitalist interest.[13] Differing cultures may perceive the concept of a home differently, ascribing less value to the privacy of a residence or the residence itself – although housing issues have been seen as of great concern to immigrants.[11][b] The home can render to men and women in significant differences: men conditioned to experience great control and little labour and vice versa for women; homelessness too can be subject to differences per gender.[8][41] Sociologist Shelley Mallett preposed the idea of home as abstractions: space, feeling,praxis or "a way of being in the world".[11] Abstract notions of home are present in the proverb "A house is not a home".[41]
Since it can be said that humans are generally creatures ofhabit, the state of a person's home has been known to physiologically influence theirbehavior,emotions, and overallmental health.[56]Marianne Gullestad wrote of the home as the center of and as an attempt to amalgamate everyday life; one's conduct there, she said, can reflect greater culture or social values, such asgender roles insinuating the home to be the domain of women.[11][c] To behomesick is to desirebelonging, saidZygmunt Bauman.[8] Places like homes can trigger self-reflection, thoughts about who someone is or used to be or who they might become.[58] These types of reflections also occur in places where there is a collective historical identity, such asGettysburg orGround Zero.[59] The time spent with one's home is a considerable element in establishing one's attachment.[11] Those without significant time spent of their life in a residence often struggle to consider home as a feature of residences.[8] The perception of one's home can extend beyond the residence itself, to their neighbourhood, family, workplace or nation and one may feel as though they have multiple homes; to have felt at home beyond residence can be a significant element in one's appraisal of their life, a time in which notions of home, it has been observed, are more profound.[11][60][61][57] The connection between home and family is pertinent, to the extent that some scholars consider the terms to be synonymous.[13]
^Alienation based sense of homelessness can extend to nations and communities;Bell Hooks wrote of an African-American sense of homeless in theAmerican South.[41]
^The word for home may not be present in all cultures and languages.[21]
^Research showcases that "women's attachment to home is more pronounced than men's and increases with the length of time spent at home".[57]
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