ABSTRACT
Each of us, through the process of living in the world, has an intimate experience of the act of settlement. We hold mental biographies of relationships with people, memories and events, these being associated with particular lived places and times. Those relationships will have varied in intensity and favourability according to circumstance and to personal and group experience. Living in any location that does not involve complete social isolation embroils us in networks of power, dependency and reciprocity with other people. The experience of dwelling is conceptually complex. It goes beyond the basic needs of survival and constitutes much of our understanding of cultural order and value.
