In recent years there has been a proliferation of writing on the meaning of home within the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, history, architecture and philosophy. Although many researchers now understand home as a multidimensional concept and acknowledge the presence of and need for multidisciplinary research in the field, there has been little sustained reflection and critique of the multidisciplinary field of home research and the diverse, even contradictory meanings of this term. This paper brings together and examines the dominant and recurring ideas about home represented in the relevant theoretical and empirical literature. It raises the question whether or not home is (a) place(s), (a) space(s), feeling(s), practices, and/or an active state of state of being in the world? Home is variously described in the literature as conflated with or related to house, family, haven, self, gender, and journeying. Many authors also consider notions of being-at-home, creating or making home and the ideal home. In an effort to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations about the meaning and experience of home each of these themes are briefly considered in this critical literature review.

Understanding Home: A Critical Review of the Literature:

The central focus of this paper is the notion that the home can provide a locale in which people can work at attaining a sense of ontological security in a world that at times is experienced as threatening and uncontrollable. The paper builds on and develops the ideas of Giddens and Saunders on ontological security and seeks to break down and operationalise the concept and explore it through a set of empirical data drawn from interviews with a group of older New Zealand home owners. The extent to which home and home life meets the conditions for the maintenance of ontological security is assessed through an exploration of home as the site of constancy in the social and material environment; home as a spatial context in which the day to day routines of human existence are performed; home as a site free from the surveillance that is part of the contemporary world which allows for a sense of control that is missing in other locales; and home as a secure base around which identities are constructed. The paper also argues that meanings of home are context specific and thus the data need to be seen in relation to New Zealanders’ long standing pre-occupation with land and home ownership. The paper concludes by speculating on how meanings of home may be changing.

Home, Home Ownership and the Search for Ontological Security:

This article reviews literature on the concept of 'place' and discusses its relevance to housing research. The article begins by providing a working definition of place before embarking upon an examination of the connections between place and identity. The nature of such attachments to place is examined through the work of Martin Heidegger (1973) and Pierre Bourdieu (1979). The relationship between place attachment and the volatile political-economy of place construction is subsequently discussed. The paper then continues with an outline of the importance of the concept of 'place' for housing researchers and concludes with some suggestions for further research. While discussions about 'place' have been a key preoccupation of geographers for some decades, housing researchers have barely touched on the subject. Yet, at the present time - a time of increasing migration, expanding urbanization, and swelling investments in place-construction (ranging from individual real-estate sales to city and regional re-de...

A place called home

An engagement with public health concerns and aspects of social theory such as the structure/agency debate is crucial to medical geography. The imperatives underlying this engagement center on place, a geographical concept which is prominent in both social theory and recent health philosophy. Without detracting from its distinguished heritage, this reformed medical geography will analyze issues such as the consequences of illness and health service provision for both personal well-being and the collective experience of place by communities.

Place and Health: Towards a Reformed Medical Geography∗

Introduction A Homesick World? Why Feeling at Home Matters Losing Home at Home: When Men and Women Feel More at Home at Work New Ways of Home-making: Feeling at Home in the Community? Feeling at Home in the Nation? Understanding Dutch Nostalgia Conclusion: Inclusive Ways of Feeling at Home? Bibliography

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The politics of home: belonging and nostalgia in Western Europe and the United States

The home has been a neglected research area in housing studies. This paper represents one preliminary attempt to explore the role of the home in contemporary British society. Key concerns include class and social relations, the sociology of consumption and the home as a locale.

The constitution of the home: Towards a research agenda

Objectives. To study the prevalence at diagnosis and cumulative incidence of comorbidity in RA, associations with clinical features and impact on outcome. Methods. Standard clinical, laboratory and radiological measures of RA, and details of comorbidity and extra-articular features were recorded at baseline and yearly in an inception cohort of 1460 patients with recently diagnosed RA from nine regions in the UK. The General Practice Research Database was used to compare the incidence of common comorbid conditions (International Classification for Disease-10 codes). Results. Baseline prevalence was 31.6% and 8.6% for all comorbidities and extra-articular features, respectively, and 15-year cumulative incidence was 81% and 53%, respectively. Rates of hypertension [standardized incidence ratio (SIR) = 1.61; 95% CI 1.43, 1.79] and ischaemic heart disease (SIR = 1.60; 95% CI 1.35, 1.84) were raised compared with figures for the general population, as was stroke in females (SIR = 1.34; 95% CI 1.02, 1.77) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder in males (SIR = 1.63; 95% CI 1.17, 2.26). Comorbidity was associated with risk of both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio = 1.09; 95% CI 1.02, 1.17) and increased rates of functional decline over 10 years (b = 0.011; 95% CI 0.004, 0.019). Comorbidity was not related to disease activity or structural damage. Conclusion. Significant comorbidity was present at the outset of RA, increasing with follow-up, mainly in cardiovascular, non-cardiac vascular and respiratory systems. Specific conditions (e.g. hypertension) occurred more frequently than in the general population. Comorbidity was related to mortality and functional decline, and more intensive therapies may need consideration in these patients. As many co-existent conditions are amenable to preventative/therapeutic measures, comorbidity needs earlier detection and management in order to reduce its impact on outcome in RA.

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A study of baseline prevalence and cumulative incidence of comorbidity and extra-articular manifestations in RA and their impact on outcome

The impacts of the global financial crisis continue to reverberate around the world. This paper explores its impacts in the UK in general and England in particular in relation to the housing market and housing policy. It examines the underlying trends which were already in place before the financial crisis and the impact of the crisis and the government's policy responses on the housing and mortgage markets. The paper argues that the crisis mainly exacerbated already long established tensions while the current policy solutions have ameliorated, but not fully, resolved these pressures.

Causes and Consequences? Exploring the Shape and Direction of the Housing System in the UK Post the Financial Crisis

Over the past thirty years, private investment in the provision of social and affordable housing has increased significantly in the United Kingdom. The reverse is true in Australia, according to this AHURI Research & Policy Bulletin.

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Peter Williams

Papers

The constitution of the home: Towards a research agenda

A study of baseline prevalence and cumulative incidence of comorbidity and extra-articular manifestations in RA and their impact on outcome

Causes and Consequences? Exploring the Shape and Direction of the Housing System in the UK Post the Financial Crisis

Financing affordable housing: a critical comparative review of the United Kingdom and Australia

Innovative financing for home ownership: the potential for shared equity initiatives in Australia