ABSTRACT

Housing is something that is deeply personal to us. It offers us privacy and security and allows us to be intimate with those we are close to. This book considers the nature of privacy but also how we choose to share our dwelling. The book discusses the manner in which we talk about our housing, how it manifests and assuages our anxieties and desires and how it helps us come to terms with loss.

Private Dwelling offers a deeply original take on housing. The book proceeds through a series of speculations, using philosophical analysis and critique, personal anecdote, film criticism, social and cultural theory and policy analysis to unpick the subjective nature of housing as a personal place where we can be sure of ourselves.

chapter 1|16 pages

Introduction

Looking out and looking in

chapter 2|20 pages

What is dwelling?

chapter 3|22 pages

Privacy

When dwelling closes in on itself

chapter 4|18 pages

A brick box or a velvet case?

chapter 5|20 pages

Talking about houses

chapter 6|18 pages

Ripples

Sharing, learning, reaching out

chapter 7|14 pages

Want it, have it!

chapter 8|22 pages

Fear and the comfort of the mundane

chapter 9|20 pages

Loss

chapter 10|10 pages

The stopping place