Defining the “Home”

Abstract

Defining the “Home”. – The article addresses the question of dwelling as an expression of life. Must a home be confined by the four square walls of a traditional building, or can it be a place on the streets within an urban area? Modes of dwelling are reflecting the socio-economic and cultural life of a person, family or social group. Also they situate the inhabitants. On the one hand the homes of the rich are becoming ever more luxuriant to the point of obscenity. On the other hand, the ever-increasing problem of homelessness reveals a politically legitimised destruction of “homes”. Thus we need ethical homes. This is not meant to promote the individual pursuit of happiness, but to seek standards by which people can live well together.