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1、UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME1LIFE AT HOMEWHAT MAKES A HOMEREPORT#32INTRODUCTIONRELATIONSHIPSSPACEPLACETHINGSSUMMARYREAL LIFE STORIESREFERENCESWhat makes a homeAbout the reportThe feeling of homeThe multi-connected residentHome in fluxAugmented relationshipsHome as a havenHome life in a multi-conne
2、cted worldSenses:the homes fourth dimensionTouch:the body language of objectsSight:light in the darkSound:fighting noise with noiseSmell:the shortcut to our memoriesTaste:the forgotten sense of homeUnlocking the fourth dimension of homeThe extended homeHome away from homeNeighbourhood revivalThe per
3、manent temporaryAll over the placeFrom objects to subjects Getting emotional about thingsObjects as enablersThe hominess of hackingThe things about homeHome:a never-ending journey932667544070853INTRODUCTION4 4THEY SAY THAT home is where the heart is.But what actually makes a home a home?And what mak
4、es us feel at home somewhere?We have looked at these questions from four dimensions:Space,Things,Relationships and Place,and come to the conclusion that its time to redefine our idea of home.The world is changing and so are our lives at home.More and more people move to cities and live in smaller sp
5、aces with fewer rooms.New household structures have an impact too.Our lives have become more diverse.More of us live alone,lodge or live together with roommates and many children live in single-parent homes.We also travel abroad more than ever.And we are al-ways online ready to share our meal,our pu
6、r-chase or our latest discovery with the rest of the world through social media.Still,for many,the longest journey is the one to the local market.The living room is still dedicated for special occasions only,and the phone is just a tool to make a phone call.Many of us choose to seek happiness in big
7、 cities.Others are forced to leave their homes for an unknown life in a new country.Regardless of the reasons,its clear that we have to get used to new ways of living,rethink our approach to the home.Understanding our lives at home is helping us realise the IKEA vision:“To create a better every-day
8、life for the many people”.That is why we are always curious about what makes a home.In a world that is changing faster than ever,it becomes increasingly important to understand the chal-lenges we face and the needs we want our homes to fulfil.We believe its time to take our curiosity one step furthe
9、r:we want to know how people define what makes a home.What are their emotional and personal relations to home?How are these chang-ing?And how are the homes we live in changing?We believe exploring this area on a deeper level and across the world will give us valuable insights that will help us redef
10、ine IKEAs idea of the home.We are starting our journey to find out more about peoples real needs,aspirations and dreams when it comes to the home today.Our aim is to make this a part of our long-term business de-velopment.Hopefully,our exploration will make us even better at making peoples homes mor
11、e meaningful.As a foundation for our studies,we had a look at existing research to find a way to describe the key aspects of what makes us feel at home.We found that a home can be looked at from four basic per-spectives:Relations,Things,Space and Place.We then started our exploration of what really
12、makes a home today based on these four dimensions.In this report,we share our first findings from our studies;we hope you are as excited as we are!WHAT MAKES A HOMEWHAT MAKES A HOMEINTRODUCTIONLIFE AT HOMEAT IKEA WE have years of experience,knowl-edge and insights about peoples lives at home from li
13、stening to the needs and dreams of our customers.With the IKEA Life at Home report we want to share our knowledge,raise awareness and interest,spark debate and contribute toward cre-ating a better everyday life.This is the third consecutive year we launch this report,where we explore the life at hom
14、e of people all over the world.In the previous reports,we have taken a closer look at morning routines and at how people meet and eat in and around the kitchen.This time,we are digging deeper into what actu-ally makes a home for people.What ingredients form a home?And in this fast-changing world we
15、are living in,how is that“home”being redefined or reinvented?This year we want to deepen our understanding of how people really think and feel about their homes.Our study is based on research done by ourselves and others.We have conducted a new quantitative survey in twelve different cities of the w
16、orld.The survey was conducted in cooperation with Swedish business intelligence agency United Minds,using online panels in Berlin,London,Moscow,Mumbai,New York,Paris,Shanghai,Stockholm,Sydney,Toronto,Zrich and Madrid.More than 1,000 re-spondents in each city add up to a total of 12,000 respondents a
17、mong people from 18 to 80 years of age.We also dug into our own archives of recent studies,looking for cues that could help us find out what makes a home to people.In addition,we have looked at a large number of external studies in various fields,for example sociology,psychol-ogy,liberal arts,neuros
18、cience and design.Not to mention talked to academic experts.All as part of our quest to learn even more about life at home.But perhaps most importantly,we have talked to real people.The pictures in the report are from some of our home visits,depicting authentic homes from all over the world.At IKEA
19、we always challenge ourselves to be more relevant and offer better solutions to peo-ples real needs at home.The extensive research that makes up the foundation for this report is part of our continuous process to always improve,in order to make life at home better for many.This years IKEA Life at Ho
20、me Report is divided into two parts.In the first part,we share insights based on our new survey and existing IKEA re-search,as well as other well-known and published study findings from experts and opinion leaders from a variety of backgrounds.In the second part,we dive deeper into an interesting fi
21、nding from our survey to understand it in more detail.To get a better understanding of the public-private rela-tionships of the home,we have visited and pho-tographed households in four cities:Stockholm,Mumbai,New York and Shanghai.This is what we call the narrative of our report:emotional stories t
22、hat can help us really understand peoples feel-ings,thoughts and behaviours.ABOUT THE REPORT5ABOUT THE REPORTINTRODUCTIONLIFE AT HOME Comfortable,sense of belonging,safety.The feeling of home is like feeling safe.You have something to depend on.Security or perhaps more like safety.Wang Chaoyin,livin
23、g with wife and grown up child ShanghaiWE KNOW ABOUT many of the important as-pects of how people connect with the idea of the home.But we also know that life at home is con-stantly evolving and that the ever-changing world around us affects our lives at home not least when it comes to our feelings.
24、To find out more about how people feel about their homes today we started this study by asking some fundamental questions:What is a home to you?What do you need to experience in order to feel at home?We found that homes of today still inspire feelings of comfort,safety and belonging essen-tial needs
25、 that appear to be constant.We need our homes to physically protect us to provide roofs over our heads.But we also need the emotional aspects of having a secure base to return to.To many of us,home is a personal haven where we can recline,reconnect and revitalize after a long day.Our homes can provi
26、de a sense of stability in life and a familiar place where we leave the out-side world behind.Considering our urban living conditions,this might be more needed than ever.City life can be tiring with streets crammed with vehicles,people rushing by and round-the-clock light,noise and smell.Going to wo
27、rk,finding time to spend with our families and loved ones,taking care of our minds and bodies we simply need downtime to cope with our busy lives,and room to breathe and relax.As Simon from Stockholm said:Home is where you are the happiest in your life.Home is happiness and comfort.Its where you fee
28、l good,like kicking off your shoes and walk-ing around,maybe even half-dressed.Home is where you feel most comfortable and its where you feel happy.Different as we are,our feelings of home are strikingly similar.People all over the world,in all kinds of homes and households,use similar words to desc
29、ribe the essence of what makes a home to them.Comfort,cosiness,relaxation and warmth are among the first words mentioned.The feeling of home is described as a feeling of being myself,a feeling of safety,a feeling of belonging and even that home is the feeling of love.Home is full of love,from the fa
30、mily,from a girl-friend and other people.Home is a place where you can feel loved.Everyone needs love.Yan Chenhao,living singleShanghaiTHE FEELING OF HOME6THE FEELING OF HOMEINTRODUCTIONLIFE AT HOMEHOME ISwhere I have my most important relationships 48%a physical space 20%where I keep my most import
31、ant things 19%a geographical place 7%Privacy plays an important part for our well-be-ing at home.However,relationships are also vi-tal building blocks of what makes a home to us.In fact,most people in our survey actually define their homes not as a physical or geographical place or a place to keep t
32、heir things but as where they have their most important relationships.Part-ners,parents,children,siblings,Internet friends,pets They are all important in the making of a home.When we bought the cat I suddenly felt and said to my partner now we have a home.We dont have any children but now we have so
33、meone to take care of.Someone who really needs us We have a home now.Robert,living with girlfriendNew YorkWhen we combine our previous knowledge with the insights from our quantitative survey and our experiences from talking to people in their homes,we get a picture of how people want to feel in the
34、ir homes.We can also see what they need from their homes and how they create meaning in their lives at home.It seems,our requirements of our homes can be summed up like this:it has to be comfort-able,it has to be safe,and it has to provide famil-iarity.Relationships,love and belonging have to be bal
35、anced by room for privacy,relaxation and recovery.And we like our homes to be personal and express who we are.Maybe most importantly,our basic needs at home are quite similar,all over the world.Home can be everything and nothing,but its not about the material things.It can be a five star hotel,but i
36、ts not home.Where you sleep is home and its all about a matter of habits that make you feel at home.Milind,living with wife,two grown up children and their grandmotherMumbaiBut how are these feelings and needs challenged in our new,urban way of living?To understand life at home,we want to review the
37、 changing condi-tions for our homes.In order to do so,we want to 7THE FEELING OF HOMEINTRODUCTIONLIFE AT HOMEWhat I think makes something a home,are the psychological functions that it serves.Its a place where we can feel protected,a place where we can feel provided for,a place where we can feel lov
38、ed,a place where we can feel connected to others.The things that make a house a home are the psychological senses,the emotional senses.Thats what makes it a home.Professor Samuel D.Gosling,Professor at the Department of Psychology,University of Texas look at the development that comes with urban-iza
39、tion and find out more about how it impacts our lives.As more and more people move to the cities,hard-to-find or smaller and more expensive apart-ments and houses become a reality for many.We move more often than before and have to create new relationships in new places,again and again.Our study sho
40、ws that people make little effort to get to know their neighbours,even though they think its an important part in feeling at home somewhere.Life in the city can be lonely.Adding to that,many of us have left our family and loved ones behind in our quest for a better life in the city.This creates a si
41、tuation where we crave human connection in new and different ways.We have to find new means of keeping in contact and build new relationships,and technology often comes to hand which also changes our social behaviour.Another change connected to urban living is the increasingly blurred lines between
42、work and time off.This has bearing on our minds and well-being,which in turn affect what we need in our homes.We also see a quest for a more sustainable way of living for us as human beings as well as for the environment which of course,has an impact too when it comes to life at home.Urbanization cl
43、early creates new living con-ditions for us.These changes place a demand on our homes to be multi-functional and flexible,not only in a practical sense but in an emotional sense too.We have to make room,one way or the other,to experience the feelings that are needed for us to call a place our home.R
44、egardless if they are connected to our relationships,the space and the area we live in or the belongings we keep to create meaning in our lives.In what way does the changes in our living conditions affect how we view our homes?What new needs emerge,now and in the future?And how can we reinforce our
45、understanding of urban living to improve life at home?Lets have a look at what makes a home from four basic perspectives of the home:Space,Things,Relationships and Place.8THE FEELING OF HOMEINTRODUCTIONLIFE AT HOMEMY IDEAL HOME ISsafe 38%spacious 34%simple to maintain 29%9SPACESPACELIFE AT HOME10INT
46、RODUCTIONWhen we think of the space at home,most of us think about a physical area where we keep our things and go about our daily activities.In other words:four walls and a roof.But space isnt only a physical structure its also a sensory experience.Our senses are important building blocks for our e
47、xperience of our surroundings a fourth dimension beyond the physical.They influence how we feel about home in more ways than we are aware of:the familiar smell when we return from a holiday;the feeling of a soft wooden floor;the taste of our favourite meal;the sound of the rice cooker or the coffee
48、machine bubbling.As our living conditions change,how can we make better use of our senses to fulfil our needs at home?We are already trying new solutions to some of the challenges we face in this new way of living.By understanding more of what our senses can do for us,maybe they could be part of the
49、 solution too?SENSES:THE HOMES FOURTH DIMENSIONUNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME11TOUCH:THE BODY LANGUAGE OF OBJECTS11TOUCH:THE BODY LANGUAGE OF OBJECTSSPACELIFE AT HOME12SPACELIFE AT HOMETOUCH:THE BODY LANGUAGE OF OBJECTSTOUCH IS THE first sense we develop and ex-perience.Even so,its one of the least
50、explored.We know that a warm touch,a loving hug or even a friendly handshake releases the“love hormone”oxytocin,which creates feelings of happiness and joy see IKEA Life At Home Report#1:Cuddle Chemicals.But how well do we understand the tactile dimension of surfaces,furniture and appli-ances in our
51、 homes?Emotional effects of touch do not only come from human contact.For example,the simple act of choosing a hard or soft chair to sit on can affect us.Researchers at MIT,Yale and Harvard have found that an objects weight,texture and hardness can influence our judgements and de-cisions on a subcon
52、scious level.It turns out that we connect the way an object looks and feels with an emotional meaning.Rough textures can make social situations seem more difficult and harsh.Smooth wood can make them feel a little friendli-er.Sitting on a hard chair can make a person take a tougher stance in a negot
53、iation.On the other hand,someone sitting on a softer one might be more flexible to deal with.We can even get the feeling that what we are talking about is more se-rious or important when we carry heavy objects.It seems like objects have body language too.Modern technology can simplify our lives at h
54、ome.Experts believe that our homes will soon be intelligent enough to adjust lighting,temper-ature and scents to match our heartbeats.In-creased“smoothness”may have potential to make our lives at home better,but not all smoothness is good for us.Clean,steely and minimalistic design often comes with
55、smooth surfaces.But do we ac-tually want a frictionless everyday life?Touch ex-pert Marieke Sonnevald argues that distinct tex-tures and contrasts make us feel more in contact with our objects and our homes.Perhaps more friction could make us feel more and experience more in our homes?The good news
56、is that we already appreciate the effects of touch more than we may realise for instance in the way we use a soft blanket to create a feeling of comfort.There is no doubt that touch can affect our emotions,moods and even behaviour at home.Perhaps if we became more aware of the feelings that hide in
57、the ob-jects around us,we could get more out of them and feel better at home.UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME13SIGHT:LIGHT IN THE DARK13SIGHT:LIGHT IN THE DARKSPACELIFE AT HOME14SPACELIFE AT HOMESIGHT:LIGHT IN THE DARKMANY SAY THE brighter the better and safer.However,street lamps,store signs and mobi
58、le screens all contribute to what is called“light pol-lution”.The lack of contrast between daylight and darkness makes it difficult for our bodies to keep track of day and night,with sleeping prob-lems and health issues as a result.Our sight is affected too.The uniformity of illumination can cause v
59、isual discomfort and de-crease visual abilities.Urban illu-mination is a real issue the nev-er-ending blinking from the outside world can be difficult to shut out,even at home.As many as 18%in our study consider their homes too bright.In Toronto,light seems to be an issue for many,and adjusting poor
60、 lighting is a top priority when it comes to improving well-being at home.The rapid urbanization not only leads to in-creased amounts of light around the clock.It also creates a lack of natural light.This is troubling since studies show that natural light makes us feel,perform and sleep better.It ha
61、s even been shown to make hospital patients recover faster and students to do better in school.Simply put,we need it to function as human beings.When natural light is replaced by artificial,what new demands are put on our homes?They say that nobody loves a sky that is al-ways blue,and the same appea
62、rs to be true for a bright one.As with many things in life,varia-tion seems to be important.Light therapy has long been used to treat depression and seasonal fatigue.On the other hand,sitting in front of a lamp for hours isnt necessary to spark improved well-being at home.Dynamic lighting seems to h
63、ave the effect too.Researchers at Stanford have found that controlled,short flashes of light at night help prevent jet lag perhaps one way to tackle disturbances to our internal clock caused by light.Other studies show that there is a big difference between cool and warm lighting.Cool light is bette
64、r for learning and warm is better for relaxation.“WHEN NATURAL LIGHT IS REPLACED BY ARTIFICIAL,WHAT NEW DEMANDS ARE PUT ON OUR HOMES?”This proves that light is so much more than just something to switch on or off at home.Small changes in the lighting conditions can make a dramatic difference to our
65、well-being and even intellectual abilities.If our homes are to be plac-es where we can recharge and feel good,perhaps we should start paying more attention to the light in and around our homes beyond the pleasure of cosy dimmers and candle lights.The lighting environment is chang-ing radically in th
66、e world around us,giving our homes and us a whole new setting.The question is,how can we use light at home to tackle the challenges that come with that development?0255075100%18%18%IN OUR STUDY CONSIDERTHEIR HOMES TOO BRIGHTSIGHT:LIGHT IN THE DARKSPACELIFE AT HOME15UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME16SO
67、UND:FIGHTING NOISE WITH NOISE 16SOUND:FIGHTING NOISE WITH NOISESPACELIFE AT HOME0255075100%39%39%OF PEOPLE IN MUMBAI WANTTO REDUCE NOISE IN THEIR HOMES TO IMPROVE THEIR WELL-BEINGLIFE AT HOME17SOUND:FIGHTING NOISE WITH NOISESPACE18SPACELIFE AT HOMESOUND:FIGHTING NOISE WITH NOISEA PIECE OF music or a
68、 familiar noise can spark some of the strongest emotions like joy,sadness,fear or nostalgia.In todays growing cities we are exposed to all kinds of sounds.And urban living can be loud.The combination of car horns,sirens,traffic,people passing by and close neighbours can mean this background noise is
69、nt really in the background at all.In fact,it can often reach 70 decibels,which is like having a vacuum cleaner running next to you.When we asked people what sound they asso-ciate with their homes,most people mentioned everyday sounds like those of voices or children playing.But to many,its the musi
70、c that makes it home.59%of the respondents in our survey play music to get a homey feeling.In Madrid,music seems to be an even more important part of life,where as many as 72%enjoy music to make themselves at home.And among the Millennials(18-29 year olds),more than 65%play music to get a homey feel
71、ing,compared to only 49%in the Silver generation(61+years).Young people seem to use music for other reasons too.Research has found that they often use music to make their bed-room their own safe haven a home within the home.Considering that more privacy is what we long for most at home so say 29%in
72、our study perhaps this trick could be worth trying for the rest of us too?However,our homes are not only filled with the sounds we like.To people in urban areas,noise is a major concern.As many as 39%of people in Mum-bai find noise in their homes to be an issue.And more than just keeping us awake,no
73、ise can be bad for our well-being.In fact,WHO considers“noise pollution”to be a threat to public health.Neurolo-gist Dr.Christopher Winter suggests that while we cant stop the sounds of the city surrounding our homes,we can block them out with a basic,repet-itive noise.This is known as“white noise”,
74、and can increase our chances of a good nights sleep.Ac-cording to the US National Sleep Foundation,white noise can easily be created by the sound of a fan,air conditioner,or air purifier the same everyday sounds that we most associate with a feeling of home.Considering the possible health effects it
75、 might bring,maybe that dishwasher humming isnt so bad after all.0255075100%65%49%65%OF ALL MILLENNIALS(18-29 YEAR OLDS)PLAY MUSIC TO GET A HOMEY FEELING,COMPARED TO 49%IN THE SILVER GENERATION(61+YEARS)UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME19SMELL:THE SHORTCUT TO OUR MEMORIES19SMELL:THE SHORTCUT TO OUR MEM
76、ORIESSPACELIFE AT HOME20SPACELIFE AT HOMESMELL:THE SHORTCUT TO OUR MEMORIESWHEN WE SMELL something,we remember without trying.It can be the smell of sunscreen that stirs up feelings of summer or the romance of a freshly baked cake.We can all relate to the sensation of being transported to another ti
77、me and place when we sense a particular smell.Why?Smell is the sense with most powerful influence on memory,mood and emotion.Yet its perhaps the one which we value the least.A recent study shows that 53%of young people aged 16-22 and 48%of those aged 23-30 would give up their sense of smell if it me
78、ant they could keep one of their elec-tronic gadgets.Our survey shows that smell is the sense that we associate the most with home.As many as 40%say their homes have a particular smell.To some,the fragrance of home is distinct and obvious;to others its hard to explain.Either way,smell is im-portant
79、when it comes to making a home.Scents can help us create a feeling of safety and intimacy,and make a space feel like home.Maybe we could benefit from exploring the world of scent a bit more in our homes.Some of us might have experienced the effect of a familiar smell in an unknown setting,for exampl
80、e when traveling abroad.When we recognize that 0255075100%40%40%SAY THEIR HOMES HAVE A PARTICULAR SMELL21SPACELIFE AT HOMESMELL:THE SHORTCUT TO OUR MEMORIESsmell,we instantly get a feeling of calmness and belonging.English student Amy Radcliffe picked up on this effect and has developed Scent-ograph
81、y.Her camera-like“Madeleine machine”captures domestic odours and makes it possible to bring the smell of home wherever we go.In our time of mi-gration and mobility,could this be a way to recre-ate the feeling of home in new places?UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME22TASTE:THE FORGOTTEN SENSE OF HOME22TA
82、STE:THE FORGOTTEN SENSE OF HOMESPACELIFE AT HOME23SPACELIFE AT HOMETASTE:THE FORGOTTEN SENSE OF HOMETHERE ARE SIGNS of a new direction in the world of design and home decoration.We are mov-ing from a strictly functional focus towards more emotional aspects.We have seen examples of how our senses aff
83、ect our feeling of home.But how does taste fit into that picture?Can we really cre-ate a feeling of home through taste?Taste seems to bring back memories and previ-ous experiences in the same way that smell does.In our study,30%say they associate a certain food with home and 63%cook to create the fe
84、eling of home.In Moscow,food seems to play an even more important role to create a homey feeling as many as 73%use food to make themselves at home.When asked what home tastes like,one of the most common answers is“the taste of my mothers food”.But studies show we have less time and space than ever f
85、or taste experiences in our homes.The number of people eating together with their families is shrinking too.So what place does food have in our lives at home today?Taste can stimulate feelings of what we long for at home:in-timacy,familiarity and belonging.As we lead more hectic lives and live in sm
86、aller spaces,how will the role of taste as part of our homes change?SPACELIFE AT HOME24SUMMARYMost homes have been designed to be functional with little attention paid to our senses.But making a home goes beyond the functionality and aesthetics of the spaces we live in.For a space to really feel lik
87、e home,a fourth dimension needs to come into play:our senses.Our brains seem to be hardwired to connect a specific smell,sound,touch etc.to feelings about our home.Senses help us make sense of the world around us and have a strong impact on our moods,emotions and even behaviour.When we live in small
88、er spaces,with new types of household constellations and in cities that create a new sensory environment perhaps we should look closer at the role our senses play when it comes to our homes.Not only to improve our well-being,but perhaps also to find new and unexpected solutions to the challenges we
89、face.Coming to our senses might bring a new understanding of what a home is and what it could be.UNLOCKING THE FOURTH DIMENSION OF LIFE AT HOME 25SPACELIFE AT HOMEINTERVIEWWHAT ROLE DOES TOUCH PLAY INTHE EXPERIENCE OF HOME?Our experience of home is to a large extent ex-pressed through touch how thin
90、gs actually feel contribute a lot to the welcoming atmosphere and the feeling of home.Just think about a front door.Some doors are a fight to open;others open easier and feel more welcoming.The moment you grasp the handle and enter,you think:“Ah,Im home!”This door metaphor can be applied to everythi
91、ng.Another example is floors;you walk differently depending on what material your floor is made from.The same goes for the difference between chairs.A comfortable chair makes you feel welcome while an elegant chair can feel very“distant”to the touch.This means you can be at home but still not feel a
92、t home,because the chair is not welcoming.WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TOREFLECT ON OUR SENSORIAL EXPERIENCES AT HOME?The senses play an important role in drawing peo-ple into their homes not only physically,but to really make them be at home.Today its difficult to communicate touch,because we dont have the
93、proper language for it.By giving people concepts,by figuring out the tactual language and by reflect-ing on our tactile experiences,we can deepen our understanding of touch as well as make it more nuanced.The key reason to address our sense of touch,is that its through touch that we experience the a
94、ffective qualities like heat and cold of our environment.WHAT TRENDS DO YOU SEE WHEN ITCOMES TO SENSORIAL DESIGN?For some time there has been a tendency to make the world softer.Of course its nice if the world is more soft than sharp,but to make things inter-esting you also need to feel friction,you
95、 want the challenge.Its the same thing as in interac-tion with people;if someone is always soft,you get bored.Now we see more examples of moving beyond the comfort and adding challenges,for ex-ample by working with textures and contrasts to make the interaction with objects more interesting and to m
96、ake us feel more in contact with our ob-jects.The sensorial experiences must be diverse,and by challenging our senses we can develop our sensitivity.MARIEKE SONNEVELDAssistant Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering,Delft University of Technology and expert on the haptic sense26THI
97、NGS27THINGSLIFE AT HOMEINTRODUCTIONOur homes are filled with things:books,tools,clothes,decorations and much more.The things we surround us with help us fulfil our basic human needs.We eat,we sleep,we dress.But things are so much more than objects.Things help us to do,to experience,to live.And they
98、also have a big impact on how we feel in our homes,how we feel for our homes and how we create meaning in our life at home.According to our study,the main reasons why we keep things in our homes are that they make us happy and because they make our homes more beautiful and homey.But our possessions
99、also show our identity,our lives and our memories.Things are reflections of our personalities and essential building blocks in making a home beyond their functional use.In fact,only 22%in our survey view the things in their homes as strictly functional objects.On the contrary,they appear to have imp
100、ortant emotional meaning to us:53%keep objects in their homes that are connected to memories and 11%bring something from home when they travel to remind them of home.It seems that not only do our things make our daily lives a little easier;they also play an important role in defining what is a home.
101、As we adjust to new ways of living,will our views on things change as well?Its clear that todays world changes the importance of the objects in our homes physically as well as mentally.We need to become more flexible in order to be able to move more often,longer distances and into smaller spaces.Not
102、 to mention adjust to new kinds of household and family structures.This brings new challenges and needs in our homes.But apart from the functional aspects,how can we look at this from an emotional perspective?How do we use things to create meaning and feel better at home and how is this changing?FRO
103、M OBJECTSTO SUBJECTS 0255075100%43%0255075100%22%43%THINK THE THINGS THAT ENABLE THEM TO DO WHAT THEY LOVE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANTTHINGSLIFE AT HOME28INTRODUCTION22%IN OUR SURVEY VIEW THE THINGS IN THEIR HOMES AS STRICTLY FUNCTIONAL OBJECTSUNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME29GETTING EMOTIONAL ABOUT THING
104、S29GETTING EMOTIONAL ABOUT THINGSTHINGSLIFE AT HOME30THINGSLIFE AT HOMEGETTING EMOTIONAL ABOUT THINGSMANY OF US can relate to having too many things:drawers that wont close,congested wardrobes and floors full of toys.In Sydney,as many as 22%feel guilt about owning too many things,compared to the ave
105、rage of 15%.They are also more aware of the things they have at home 51%compared to 45%for the rest of the respondents.At the same time,we buy more new things than ever,regardless of where we live in the world.There is a fast growth in India and China,where more and more people are able to afford be
106、tter lives at home.23%of people worldwide buy something new for their home every week,according to our study.But with shrinking living spaces in the cities,it gets difficult to collect more and more things there simply isnt enough room in our homes.There is also a general and grow-ing understanding
107、about the worlds resources not being limitless,which makes people more aware of the things they have.Smaller living spaces and in-creased concern for the environment bring a need for a new approach to things.We simply cant have too much stuff at home.And as part of this,we are becoming more mindful
108、of our things at home.Our study shows that more people want fewer things at home rather than the other way around.The main reason is simple:to keep better order.Too much stuff not only makes it difficult to find what we are looking for,it actually seems to make us grumpier too.In our study,39%claim
109、their messy homes irritate them once a week or more and 27%argue about tidying up once a week or more.The younger generation(18-29 year olds)seems to be even more sensitive to messy homes.In this group,47%get irritated about clutter every week and 36%have weekly arguments about it.Adding to that,oth
110、er studies show that disorderly spaces makes us feel less at home.Its not sur-prising that the professional organizing industry,which offers personal help with organizing our things at home,is on the rise.But where a mess can create stress and make simple tasks like get-ting dressed in the mornings
111、more complicated,simple measures can help us.Marie Kondo,author and organizational expert inspired by mindfulness,31THINGSLIFE AT HOMEsuggests that we should organize our clothes in an eye-pleasing order from dark and heavy to the left,to light and bright on the right.This makes it easier for us to
112、find what we need and helps us be more mindful of our belongings.As Kondo says:“When you put your house in order,you put your affairs in order too.”But being mindful of our things isnt only about having fewer of them,or organizing them better.Its also about a change in how we look at them.We are mov
113、ing from valuing practical benefits to appreciating the emotional meaning of objects.This trend seems especially strong in younger gen-erations.Millennials(18-29 year olds)put higher value on objects that carry emotional meaning and see the ideal home as a place for memories,re-flection of self and
114、a source of pride to a higher extent than other age groups.This sentimentality doesnt show in the Silver generation(61+years),which cares more about practical aspects such as the home being easy to look after.The same goes for expectations of other peoples homes.Millen-nials have greater expectation
115、s of emotional fea-tures,such as art and design and that the home is unique.Older people care more about the practi-cal circumstances of visiting other peoples homes,like being invited to eat or drink something.The tendency among young people of wanting to feel as designer Ilse Crawford puts it the“
116、magic of things”at home,could perhaps be an indication of how future generations will tackle global challenges like housing shortage,shrinking living spaces and the need for more environmentally friendly living.The growing trend of becoming more mindful of things seems to be here to stay.Not just be
117、cause we have to,but perhaps also because we want to.We like to surround ourselves with things that are meaningful to us.Whether its a bookshelf full of books that let us immerse ourselves in new experi-ences;a wardrobe that really helps us organize our carefully selected clothes or inherited tablew
118、are that reminds us of our loved ones a more mindful approach to our things seems to be one way we reinvent our relation to things at home.16%0255075100%“16%SAY THEY WOULD NOT HAVE ANYPROBLEMS THROWING AWAY AND REPLACING ALL THE THINGS THEY HAVE IN THEIR HOME”GETTING EMOTIONAL ABOUT THINGSUNDERRURUB
119、RIKSPACELIFE AT HOME32OBJECTS AS ENABLERS32OBJECTS AS ENABLERSTHINGSLIFE AT HOME33THINGSLIFE AT HOMEOBJECTS AS ENABLERSWE ALL HAVE our favourite objects at home:perhaps a cup,a blanket or an instrument.Things that might not look special to others but have strong personal meaning to us.We use these o
120、b-jects to enjoy coffee with our partners,to comfort ourselves when watching a movie or to connect with others through music.In fact,the things that matter most to us seem to be ones that enable us to do what we love at least,thats what 43%in our study say.In Berlin,this is even more evident,where a
121、s many as 55%agree on this.Psycholo-gists Leaf van Boven and Thomas Gilovich even suggest that we are happier when we buy things to do something with than when we buy things just to own.The connection between what an object lets us do and the feelings we attach to it is clear.Kristina Niedderer,Prof
122、essor of Design and Craft at the University of Wolverhampton,has studied what she calls“performative objects”or“action objects”,things that work as catalysts for social engagement.Or in other words:things that in one way or other make us perform activities,often social like a dining table that acts
123、as an enabler for a family to spend time together.Other studies focus on objects abilities to change our feelings.At the department of Man and Well-being at the Design Academy Eindhoven,designer Ilse 34THINGSLIFE AT HOMEOBJECTS AS ENABLERSCrawford and her colleagues are looking at the possibility to
124、 design objects that can change our moods through their design,like“happy”or“sad”glasses.The things we surround us with clearly have the power to affect us beyond our under-standing.Perhaps the next time we buy a sofa,we should consider if its a social one.We see a shift in values regarding our rela
125、tion to things at home from valuing objects for their own sake to appreciating the experiences they can bring.A table isnt just a beautiful or practical ob-ject;it is an enabler for social gatherings at home.In this new age of experiences,the value of an object isnt the result of an objective evalua
126、tion.Instead,the way we appreciate our things seems to be connected to our personal needs and dreams on a deeper level.Happiness,enjoyable activities or even connecting with others might only be an object away.Multi-functionality is a growing demand at home,due to smaller living spaces and sharing o
127、ur homes with others.And we are already starting to find new practical solutions to this issue.But per-haps we could find new use for our things,simply by paying attention to how they make us behave and feel?0255075100%53%53%SAY THE THINGS THEY HAVE IN THEIR HOME REFLECT WHO THEY AREUNDERRURUBRIKSPA
128、CELIFE AT HOME35THE HOMINESS OF HACKING35THE HOMINESS OF HACKINGTHINGSLIFE AT HOME36THINGSLIFE AT HOMETHE HOMINESS OF HACKINGNO TWO HOMES look the same.Not just be-cause of the things and people in them,but also because our homes are a work in progress.Whether its buying new cushions,putting up a ph
129、oto of our loved ones or giving an old chair new life by painting it,we often try to increase the feeling of hominess.More and more people appre-ciate the experience of“hacking”their things.In our study,37%say that they enjoy making,mod-ifying and assembling things for their home.The largest numbers
130、 of home hackers in our study are found in Mumbai(57%)and Shanghai(49%).The popularity of doing things on our own is broad,as is the concept of hacking.It can be applied to everything from making homemade pickles,to laying tiles or constructing a complete house.Sometimes we do it because we cant fin
131、d the products we need in the store,sometimes we want to save money.Our study found that 32%prefer to repair things that break rather than buy a replacement,even if the cost is the same.Also,22%regularly alter things to better fit their needs and preferences.But the fact is that many of us do it sim
132、ply because we enjoy the work.The feel-ing of being capable of creating something unique and the self-expression that connects us with like-minded people are some of the reasons we love to do it ourselves.And of course this affects our well-being too.Research has shown that projects like building th
133、ings,gardening,and other hands-on activities in our homes can make us feel better about our-selves.For example,its been shown that older people who carry out do-it-yourself jobs are more satisfied with their lives than those who dont.The same seems to be true for hacking,and in addition to improving
134、 our well-being,it also affects the at-mosphere in our homes and the feeling of home.In a recent study on the subject,many of the people who were interviewed described working on their homes as an important aspect of life.It wasnt only the work itself that mattered,but also what they were working wi
135、th.For example,malleable mate-rials were more strongly associated with positive emotions than rigid materials.Flexible materials were also believed to better create feelings of hominess.It appears as if hacking is more about creating meaning than actually making stuff.On the positive side,one doesnt
136、 have to be handy to enjoy the benefits of making things.Some researchers claim its not the modifying as such that mat-ters,but the fact that we are in-teracting with the objects.In a Harvard study,elderly residents in a nursing home were given houseplants:one group was re-sponsible for caring for t
137、hem;the other had the staff watering them.The plant-caring group showed improved alertness,increased social participation and great-er general well-being.It seems that the journey might just be as important as the destination when it comes to hacking.Another example of the“car-ing effect”is the grow
138、ing use of“dementia dolls”in care homes.Patients are given plastic dolls to care for,with reports of reduced anxiety and aggres-sion as a result.Perhaps its not surprising that growing plants is the number one choice among“IT SEEMS WE HAVE A LOT TO GAIN BY PERSONALISING AND TAKING BETTER CARE OF OUR
139、 THINGS”37THINGSLIFE AT HOMEthe Silver generation to create a feeling of home,according to our study.It seems we have a lot to gain by personalis-ing and taking better care of our things,not only for our wallets,but for our well-being and feelings of hominess too.In times of increased focus on susta
140、inability and well-being,we enjoy making things on our own.How does this affect the sense of home?And what does it mean for our homes in the future?Will we have fewer things but engage more with what we have?When we have to move more often,perhaps hacking is a shortcut to mak-ing ourselves feel at h
141、ome?THE HOMINESS OF HACKING38THINGSLIFE AT HOMESUMMARYWe live our lives among and through objects.They are reflections of our identities and bring our thoughts and feelings together.And as weve learned,the things we love seem to be those that go beyond form and function.Its the ones that make us min
142、dful,enable our activities or offer interaction that help us grow as human beings.Global challenges like overcrowding and lack of space are among the reasons why we are redefining the meaning of things.Objects are becoming subjects in our lives.Exploring how and what this means for the home might br
143、ing a new understanding of how our things can contribute to a better everyday life.THE THINGSABOUT HOME39THINGSLIFE AT HOMEINTERVIEWHOW WOULD YOU SAY THAT THE THINGS IN OUR HOMES AFFECTOUR BEHAVIOUR?In all kinds of ways.Many things we do to a loca-tion are deliberately done to try to affect our be-h
144、aviour.Essentially that is what most of the things in the house are for.Some of these things are very ordinary you know,we put the coat hook and the umbrella rack by the door so that we can put our coats and umbrellas there.They are also,and this is important,used to affect our thoughts and feel-ing
145、s.For example,if you want to create a sense of relaxation what are the specific material things you do to your place of residence to create that?If you want to create a sense of family what are the things you do to do that?In our work we pro-pose three basic processes by which we connect to location
146、s through things.The first is the deliberate statement we make to ourselves,but mainly to others about our atti-tudes and values.We do this in a lot of domains,for example if you wear a t-shirt with your fa-vourite band,you are telling people you like the Rolling Stones.Its a way of telling other pe
147、ople what I care about.Those things help us express our identity.SAMUEL D.GOSLINGProfessor in Psychology at the Department of Psychology,University of Texas with an expertise on the psychology within physical environmentsSecondly,many of the things we deliberately put up in our homes are put there f
148、or our own benefit.These things are what I call thought and feeling regulators;they do not have to be understood by others.So a lot of the things in our homes are about creating thoughts and feelings.May-be happy memories of important people,places and times.Or things that allow us to concentrate,op
149、en our minds and be creative.We are doing these things deliberately to the home.The goal is not to communicate;its really about affecting our own feelings.The third way we relate to our homes is the idea that we engage in a lot of activities there.A subset of the activities leaves a material trace.T
150、he fact that we have a lot of books and they are organ-ised by topic,and have things written in them and so on,that is essentially behavioural traces.Like an animal leaves evidence of their behaviour as it moves through the environment,we do too,with our things.40RELATIONSHIPS41RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT
151、HOMEINTRODUCTIONRelationships are an important part of what makes a home.You might even say they are essential.Almost half of the people in our study(48%)say that they think of a home as a place where they have their most important relationships.Those who are satisfied with their relationships at ho
152、me are also happier and more satisfied with life in general.And maybe not surprisingly feel better at home.Not only because of the happiness that the relationships bring,but perhaps also because relationships seem to make us want to make our homes more homey.Our study shows that people who think tha
153、t relationships are central to what makes a home engage in gardening,play music,socialise and cook more than others.There is no doubt about it:relationships are an important aspect of what makes a home,and play a significant role in how we feel.But as the world around us is changing,so are our relat
154、ionships at home.Urbanization,technology and new living constellations challenge traditional ideas of what a home is,as well as the relationships we have in our homes.In many societies,the nuclear family is no longer the norm and we see new ways of living together.Limited space,shortage of affordabl
155、e housing and an increased awareness of our impact on the environment are other reasons why we se more alternative ways of living,like co-housing and micro-apartments.New kinds of households change our idea of what is a home,as well as our view on what is private and what is public.Digital technolog
156、y has an impact too.With social media being an ever-present part of our lives,our concept of being alone has changed.We can be physically alone,but at the same time have a busy social life online.We can invite people less often to our physical homes,but share it digitally on a daily basis.In short,w
157、e have more complex connections than ever we are becoming multi-connected residents.How will the changes we see affect how we think and feel about relationships at home?And how can we use this knowledge to support better relationships at home?THE MULTI-CONNECTEDRESIDENT0255075100%48%42LIFE AT HOMERE
158、LATIONSHIPSINTRODUCTION48%SAY THAT THEY THINK HOME IS THE PLACE WHERE THEY HAVE THEIR MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPSUNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME43HOME IN FLUX43LIFE AT HOMERELATIONSHIPSHOME IN FLUX44RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMEHOME IN FLUXMOTHER,FATHER AND children:this has long been our standard image
159、 of relationships at home.But reality is very different.In fact,in the US,not even 20%of the households are nu-clear families.A full 45%,or 107 million of the adults in the US are living as singles.Pew Re-search Center estimates that by the time todays young American adults reach their 50th birth-da
160、y,25%of them will have been single their en-tire lives.The same trend can be seen in other parts of the world too.In China,unmarried and older people living alone is a rising trend and a big break from traditional family structures.We see more people moving from rural areas to the cities,looking for
161、 an opportunity to support themselves and their families back home.This,together with the rise of a well-educated gener-ation valuing the independence that comes with earning a good living,is driving a trend towards more single households in Chinese cities.On the other hand,in some Western societies
162、 like Aus-tralia and Canada,there is a growing trend of multi-generational homes;a type of housing that until now has been more common in the East.Its clear that things are on the move when it comes to how we live and with whom.We are breaking with old ways of doing things in all types of soci-eties
163、,but in different ways.The changes in how people build their relation-ships in their homes are partly driven by urban challenges like small living spaces,lack of hous-ing or expensive care for ageing populations.We are simply forced to live together to a greater extent.Hard-to-find housing and other
164、 practical aspects that influence our relationship combina-tions at home,are on the rise.The UN Population Fund estimates that three million people move to cities every week.The total number of urban cit-izens is expected to be five billion people by the year 2030 but construction of new housing isn
165、t keeping up.On the other hand,higher education-al levels and our longing for independence result in fewer or later marriages and more people living alone.We see a shift in values,where individu-al needs and dreams and freedom to choose be-come more important.Social scientist Bella DePaulo claims th
166、at more and more people are considering new ways of liv-ing and“not going nuclear”.After spending sever-al years travelling across the US doing research,she found several examples of different family conditions,such as intergenerational neighbour-hoods planned with older people in mind and married c
167、ouples who happily live apart.According to DePaulo,these choices are freer,more varied and more in harmony with our modern need to be multi-connected.In several major cities,not only in the West but also in countries like South Korea and China,shared living or co-living is booming.This can of course
168、 be for economical or practical reasons.But it can also be a reaction to the increased solitude that many people feel today.Stories of the urban loneliness are shared in books,blogs and proved by several studies.Surrounded by strangers we lack the unity of small-scale communities.When the matrimonia
169、l relationship as the foundation for the home is replaced by single living,we seem to long for intimacy with other people.As a result of this,we see examples of new ways of living to-gether,where people try alternative forms of prop-erty ownership or ways of sharing flats.For many,co-housing seems t
170、o be a way of reducing the isolation many of us experience today in a way recreating the neighbourly support of the past.Whether its for practical,emotional,cultural or economical reasons,more and more people are moving from traditional relationship structures to new arrangements at home.The red thr
171、ead is that we see a more diverse approach to relationships.Its not that our relationships are becoming less 45RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMEHOME IN FLUXimportant at home,but we are finding new ways to form them.We are breaking the norms all over the world,in different ways.They say that necessity is the
172、 mother of invention.And we have invent-ed many new types of families and households.The driving forces behind the urbanization chal-lenge our way of living,and make it possible for us to ignore expectations and reinvent the idea of relationships at home.This also means that our homes need to change
173、 in order to suit new types of needs.Instead of generic homes,designed for one type of family dynamics,perhaps we will see even more types of homes in the future?For the time being,the new and alternative living arrange-ments all offer hints as to what a family and a home might mean in the coming de
174、cades.UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME46AUGMENTED RELATIONSHIPS46LIFE AT HOMERELATIONSHIPSAUGMENTED RELATIONSHIPS47RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMEAUGMENTED RELATIONSHIPSWE SPEND MORE and more time online and so-cial media has become an important place for us to develop our relationships.We chat,we blog,we s
175、tream and share stories and images from our lives.Its no longer possible to separate our digi-tal life from our real one;they both enhance and affect each other.The shift of platforms for our re-lationships real world to digital is also affecting how we look at our homes.For example,our study shows
176、that 23%think its more important to have good Wi-Fi than to have social spaces at home.In Shanghai,the number is even more extreme 49%are Wi-Fi-lovers.Moreover,19%think its more important to keep in contact with friends on-line than to invite them to their homes.Technology definitely has an impact o
177、n our behaviours,needs and values when it comes to relationships at home.In last years IKEA Life At Home Report#2 we suggested that sharing food experiences via so-cial media could make you feel a little less lone-ly.Technology clearly brings people together,and food is often at the centre.This goes
178、 for the real world and the virtual,as well as for old and new friendships.Apps aimed at food lovers connect people who would otherwise never meet,inviting them to get together over dinner.The fact is that more people are dining solo in the cities,which 0255075100%49%IN SHANGHAI 49%THINK ITS MORE IM
179、PORTANT TO HAVE GOOD WI-FI THAN TO HAVE SOCIAL SPACES AT HOME48RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMEAUGMENTED RELATIONSHIPSis a change from the traditional social function of eating together.According to Sangyoub Park of Washburn University,the South Korean phenom-enon known as mukbang,where viewers pay to watc
180、h strangers eat over a live video stream,is another example of how people are using technol-ogy to reconnect over a meal.Our study shows that young people use social media in the kitchen more often than the older generation.16%of the Millennials(18-29 years)eat or drink together online,compared to 8
181、%among the Silver generation(60+years)and 15%post pictures,for example while cooking,compared to only 2%among the oldest group.Eating alone,but together with friends and family online,is just one example on how new technology can change our idea of social interaction and relationships in the home.To
182、 many,reliable Wi-Fi at home is more im-portant than having a social space,especially for those who have moved at least twice during the last two years(31%),for those who have more than one residence(32%)and for those who have chil-dren living with them in periods(32%).It seems,good Wi-Fi becomes es
183、pecially important to social life when people are often on the move.An older example of how technology has changed our behaviour in our homes is television.When we all got TVs,they soon became a central object in our homes,and the TV room the place where all family members got together.But today,TV
184、doesnt have that same function as a social glue.Or as Chris Baumann Ph.D candidate and expert on organization and usage of everyday technology puts it:“The idea of people watching TV with five people in the sofa is dead”.However,when objects and places lose their function,new types of objects and pl
185、aces replace them and they dont have to involve several people to be social.Much like tele-vision replaced radio and the fireplace,these de-vices may cause small but important changes to how we think of and use our spaces.For example,in what way will our tablets and other,not yet launched technical
186、devices change the way we design our homes?The way that technology will impact our homes and behaviours in the future is exciting and unexplored.UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME49HOME AS A HAVEN49LIFE AT HOMERELATIONSHIPSHOME AS A HAVEN50RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMEHOME AS A HAVENWE ALL HAVE a need for p
187、rivacy at home.Our study shows that private space is a top priority for people when asked what they would do to improve their homes to feel better.In fact,“more private space”in their homes is something people want more than they want“more social space”.And as many as 25%would choose to spend an hou
188、r alone,if they had one to spare.We simply need pri-vate space.But as our living conditions change,we have less room for privacy.Our study shows that young people and those who share their living space with others of-ten leave their homes to get some.Ac-cording to professor Samuel D.Gosling,our need
189、 for privacy at home isnt only about taking a break from socializing with others.It is also about being able to get work done,concentrate,be creative and relax.In other words:some of our most important needs are be-ing challenged by the way we live.The decreasing sense of privacy at home isnt only a
190、bout us having to live with more people un-der the same roof.It also has to do with the rise of the sharing economy and social media.Today,our homes are open,not only to ourselves but also to others.We share our homes online and offline.The only truly private space seems to be our minds.Housing pric
191、es have sky-rocketed over the last two decades,and continue to do so.As more peo-ple look for better lives in the cities,our homes have become a lucrative business.A lack of hous-ing makes people look for new alternatives.New technology brings easy-to-use home sharing platforms,temporary as well as
192、permanent.If the home used to be a private space,closed to strangers,we are now opening it up.Does this change our sense of our home as a personal haven where we can relax,be ourselves and feel at home?The trend of sharing spaces with people we dont know also affects our homes,not only men-tally but
193、 also physically.We see examples of people actually designing their homes in order to take on guests(on a regular basis),for example by building extra storage space,installing electronic locks or putting bunk beds in the childrens room to be able to lease the master bedroom.A couple of years ago,thi
194、s would probably have been seen as strange.It seems that inviting people into our homes virtual-ly and physically means that we no longer design our homes only to suit our own needs,but also to make them attractive to strangers.The housing shortage could probably force even more people to live toget
195、her in the future.Living with others,especially people that we are not particularly close to,can create new feelings at home.Shared spaces lead to compromises on things like the level of organisa-tion,types of dcor,timings for activ-ities etc.Professor Samuel D.Gosling claims that informal power str
196、uctures often arise in these situations,where one person becomes more in charge.This in turn means that the different psychological needs in the households are not met.According to Gosling,its the combination of power struggles and the lack of space that makes privacy more important.He argues that h
197、ouse-hold members that havent played a big part in creating the space at home often find their own little hideaways to escape to.Whether its the garden,basement or even the bathroom;people tend to have spaces where they can get the pri-vacy they want.Perhaps next time our household members annoy us
198、by taking extra long showers,we should just let them be.“WE ALSO DESIGN OUR HOMES TO SUIT THE NEEDS OF STRANGERS”25%25%WOULD CHOOSE TOSPEND AN HOUR ALONE IF THEYHAD ONE TO SPARE51LIFE AT HOMERELATIONSHIPSHOME AS A HAVEN52RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMESUMMARYRelationships are a fundamental part of the hom
199、e and maybe even more so today than a decade ago.And its no surprise,as they are key to our well-being at home.Our study shows that positive feelings about the home increase when people live together.And the larger the household the more feelings of belonging,excitement and caring.But at the same ti
200、me,we do have an undeniable need for privacy.Thanks to our digital life we can create a virtual“room”wherever we are,and use it to create privacy but also to socialise with others.This might be one way of handling the paradox our study points to:we crave more privacy at home but at the same time we
201、want to nurture relationships there,as they are strongly associated with what actually creates a home.Bringing our relationships closer and into our home,both physically and digitally,affects our view on what is private and public,along with our behaviours and how we design our homes.In research we
202、have found that the number of different relationships at home are growing,which creates new needs and challenges.What does this mean for our future homes?Will they become multi-functional centres for all the different needs of our relationships?And if so,how will the home of the multi-connected resi
203、dent be designed?HOME LIFE IN AMULTI-CONNECTED WORLD53RELATIONSHIPSLIFE AT HOMEINTERVIEWWHAT CHANGES DO YOU SEE IN THE WAY WE LIVE TODAY?We see many new family compositions and differ-ent types of families,completely different from the ones we used to see right after World War II.These are part of c
204、hanges in society that have to do with the new demographic types.In some parts of the world,the families made up of parents and two or three kids are now a minority.They still form a big chunk of the family pie,but their num-bers are getting smaller.Instead,we see other types of families increasing.
205、Except for single par-ents and same sex marriages,we see a comeback of multigenerational families,for example in North America.This will give rise to completely different spaces and different attitudes.You will still need a bedroom and so on,but there will be completely other needs than those of tra
206、ditional families.WHAT CONSEQUENCES DO THESE CHANGES HAVE?The housing market must adapt to these chang-es.When apartment buildings are designed and constructed,builders must offer a greater flexi-bility.We already see houses being designed to accommodate different types of families,so called AVI FRI
207、EDMANProfessor at the School of Architecture,McGill University adaptable houses.And in North America and Eu-rope,what we see is that apartment buildings are becoming more of a neighbourhood.Maybe you have a few rooms in the building that you can rent for family gatherings and other social activities
208、,or a kindergarten in the same building as you live.HOW CAN DESIGN WORK AS A CATALYST FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION?I believe there are several things you can do.For example,if you have a family room that is com-fortable,its likely that there will be more oppor-tunities for family members to sit together f
209、or a while.If you have a nice and comfortable dining room,its more likely that the family will eat there together.And vice versa:if you dont have a com-fortable dining place in which the entire family can sit and dine,the family will not sit there.If there is no place to eat breakfast,people will br
210、ing their breakfast on the way.These are important ele-ments that need to be in place in order to change our social behaviour in our homes.54PLACE55PLACELIFE AT HOMEINTRODUCTIONThey say there is no place like home.But where is that exactly?When we asked people what matches their idea of a home,we fo
211、und that few associate home with a geographic place.In fact,as few as 7%think of their home as a specific location.Instead,37%believe the concept of home goes beyond the four walls and 38%consider their neighbourhood part of their home.We also found that many people go outside of their residences to
212、 get the feeling of home.In fact,42%feel more at home outside their actual residence.When you think of it,its no surprise that feelings,habits and activities that used to take place in the home,now find their way out.Life at home is getting more crowded,and we turn to other alternatives to fulfil ou
213、r needs as human beings.We are all different,and we all have our own personal needs at home.But our basic human needs can be generalized in terms of physiological needs like eating or sleeping,a need for safety like a lock on the door,and needs for love and belonging.Many of these needs have until n
214、ow been fulfilled at home,where we have found a place to relax,feel safe,build relationships,express our identity and find peace to read,write and be creative.But our homes are becoming crowded and to many of us,its difficult to create a lasting sense of familiarity at home.One example of this is wh
215、en strangers have to move in together to find a place to stay in overcrowded cities.It can sometimes be difficult to find room for our personal needs at home in our modern society.Our fundamental needs are not always met,and some of them seem to be satisfied in new ways and in new places.How do peop
216、le try to fulfil the needs that traditionally were fulfilled in their physical homes?And how does the quest for solutions outside of the home affect how we view our home as a physical place?THE EXTENDED HOME0255075100%38%38%CONSIDER THE NEIGHBOURHOOD IN WHICHTHEY LIVE A PART OF THEIR HOMEPLACELIFE A
217、T HOME56INTRODUCTIONUNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME57HOME AWAY FROM HOME57LIFE AT HOMEPLACEHOME AWAY FROM HOME58PLACELIFE AT HOMEHOME AWAY FROM HOMEACCORDING TO OUR study,feelings of safety,familiarity,relaxation,freedom and intimacy are strongly associated with the home.Today,many public spaces such
218、 as cafs,hotels and restaurants are designed to appeal to those exact feelings by mimicking a home.Borrowing the appearance of a home is part of an overall“casualization trend”.In the restaurant business,this is expressed by“family style”dinners,mismatching dinnerware and informal service.And in sev
219、eral big cities,so called“underground restaurants”where amateur chefs open up their homes to cook for strangers,are gaining in popularity.This might be the ultimate experience for those looking for a truly personal,authentic and homey feeling.The increase in tem-porary living solutions make it chall
220、enging to really make oneself at home and might even sometimes be viewed as a waste of time.As a result of this,we see more people moving activities that used to take place in the home to other locations.Eating,social-izing,relaxing,sleeping,and as weve seen in our study,even looking for privacy and
221、 revitalization.The lines between our homes and other places are becoming blurred,not least when it comes to work.One important reason for that is because of our changing living patterns.Many of us spend as much time at work as in our homes,sometimes 59PLACELIFE AT HOMEHOME AWAY FROM HOMEeven more.I
222、ts not surprising that we see a trend of more homey settings in the work places.Res-idential design influences informal areas,such as lounges.In extreme cases,some offices even ap-pear and function as“homes away from home”,complete with kitchens and rooms for napping.The other side of the coin is th
223、at we live in a time when many of us only need a laptop to do our job.This changes the demands and functions of homes in the same way as for work places as our needs in these different places change.The feelings of home seep into our work places,and the mood of work enters our homes.But what does th
224、is mean for our emotions and attitudes towards our home?To Millennials(18-29 years),this development seems to spark a completely new approach to home and the time they spend in it.Only a few people across all age groups(6%)feel more at home at work than at home,but as many as 11%of Millennials say t
225、hat they feel more at home at work or school than in their homes.Actually,Millennials seem to have extended their home to even more places than work.For example,they feel more at home than others at the gym,at cafs and in their friends homes.Only 37%of the Millennials feel most at home in their actu
226、al residence.Millennials also tend to spend more time outside of their res-idences doing typical home activities;they relax,watch TV and sleep somewhere else to a larger ex-tent than other age groups.Its clear they can find homey feelings in other places than their homes.As we can only expect our li
227、ving spaces to shrink,perhaps this could serve as inspiration for the rest of us too?The rise of home sharing services is another ex-ample of our need for the feeling of home.In our study,we found that the main reasons why we would want to stay in someone elses private home instead of a hotel is tha
228、t we think of a home as more inviting and having more character.Values that are usually associated with the home are now sought in other places too.This brings a chance to fulfil our human needs and opens up to new experiences and opportunities that can bring flavour to our lives.The city is becomin
229、g our living room,with a common interior for all of us.This offers us access to new ar-eas and experiences the city has to offer.In a way,this drags our homes out into public spaces,as well as turns the city into more of a home to us.But the blurred lines between public and private space and our lon
230、ging to experience the feelings of home also raises questions.What does it do to our feelings for our physical homes?What needs emotional and functional will they have to fulfil in the future?And how will the breakdown of the private-public divide affect the way we design and use our homes and publi
231、c spaces?Will apartments without kitchens and offices with beds be the new normal?11%0255075100%11%OF MILLENNIALS FEEL MORE AT HOME AT WORK OR INSCHOOL THAN IN THEIR HOMESUNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME60NEIGHBOURHOOD REVIVAL60LIFE AT HOMEPLACENEIGHBOURHOOD REVIVAL61PLACELIFE AT HOMENEIGHBOURHOOD REV
232、IVALAS A NATURAL consequence of urbanization,we live closer to each other than before.Despite this,many of us dont even know the names of our next-door neighbour.Some studies show that we have become more disconnected from our neighbours,and city planners even talk about the“death of the neighbourho
233、od”.At the same time or maybe because of this we are witnessing strong tendencies of a neighbourhood revival.It might not only be because its practical to have someone to borrow sugar from,but also an ex-pression of how we stimulate our emotional needs outside of our residences.Its been said that an
234、yone can buy a good house,but that good neighbours are priceless.At IKEA,we want to understand and improve life at home and this also means learning about the life sur-rounding it.In 2015 we did an experiment to see if we could increase well-being,comfort and hap-piness in a neighbourhood by promoti
235、ng better lo-cal relationships.By creating a physical and digital platform for social interaction together with the lo-cals,we found a strong desire to get in touch with others.By giving people a push in that direction,they became prouder,more comfortable and felt more secure in their neighbourhood
236、basic needs when it comes to what makes a home.Our survey 0255075100%42%42%FEEL MORE AT HOME OUTSIDETHEIR ACTUAL RESIDENCE62PLACELIFE AT HOMENEIGHBOURHOOD REVIVALalso supports this:respondents that make efforts to connect with others in their area tend to feel better,happier and more satisfied with
237、their lives in general.Its evident that if we want to improve our lives at home,we could benefit from looking be-yond the four walls of our residences.And it actu-ally seems that more people are picking up on this in various efforts to re-energise community spirit.Initiatives that try to create more
238、 social com-munities are being introduced in many parts of the world.For example,in both North America and Eu-rope,kindergartens are built into apartment build-ings to create tighter bonds between residents and their neighbours.Other types of mixed-use living communities include stand-alone home liv
239、ing,but with added places to work and socialise some call this“dorms for grown ups”.In some places,there are even arranged activities to encourage sociali-zation among residents,like the micro-apartment building Carmel Place in New York where day trips,classes and workshops are organized.But its not
240、 only in the housing industry we see things happen-ing,citizens are inventing solutions too.There are many grass root initiatives that promote tighter communities and sense of belonging,sometimes referred to as DIY urbanism.Urban gardening,pop-up bike repair centres and fleamarkets are some examples
241、 of how people all over the world are actively trying to reconnect with their neigh-bourhood.It seems our quest for privacy in our homes is contradicted by a craving for belonging,which is rapidly changing how we interact with our communities.The neighbourhood has been reborn as a focal point for re
242、lationships,safety and even identi-ty-building.In other words,for emotional human needs.We are actively trying to rebuild aspects that seem to have gotten lost in urbanization:a sense of belonging,trust and protection associ-ated with the small society.The home is extending outside the four walls,br
243、inging increased room for living,creating and self-expression.UNDERRURUBRIKSPACELIFE AT HOME63THE PERMANENT TEMPORARY63LIFE AT HOMEPLACETHE PERMANENT TEMPORARY64PLACELIFE AT HOMETHE PERMANENT TEMPORARYALL OVER THE world,we see increasingly flu-id living.In the cities,many of us have to move more oft
244、en than we would want to making tem-porary living a permanent situation for many.For example,in North America,people move on aver-age every five years.Studies show that increased temporary living is a global phenomenon that sometimes even leads to homelessness.The driv-ing factors such as overcrowdi
245、ng,expensive living and housing shortage are connected to urbaniza-tion.But urbanization isnt the only driver behind temporary living.One of the greatest challenges of today is the dramatic increase in forced migration.Conflicts and disasters in many parts of the world are forcing people to leave th
246、eir homes,of-ten without knowing where they will end up.This way,all aspects of home are lost:space,things,re-lationships and a place to call home.Designer Ilse Crawford puts it like this:“Home is a primal need,not an affectation.To be homeless is not just to be without a house;the feeling of vulner
247、ability that goes with having no home is really profound.”So,can a sense of home,feelings of safeness and be-longing be created in a temporary place?The IKEA Foundation,the philanthropic arm of Stitching INGKA Foundation(the owner of the IKEA Group),launched flat-pack refugee shelters in 2015,which
248、offer a place to sleep,socialise and create feelings of home.A door lock provides a sense of privacy and security,and solar panels of-fer electricity to enable living after dark.Other sim-ilar solutions for when people abruptly lose their homes can be seen in disaster areas.For example,post-tsunami
249、housing made from local materials provide easy access to a place called home.We know how important the home is for our well-be-ing,our ability to grow,connect with others and simply live,and its clear that design can be used to change lives.But the question remains:how can we use our knowledge about
250、 our emotional needs at home when creating new solutions to tackle the issue of temporary living?”One of the most interesting and important topics discussed today regarding space is the question of migration and belonging.When we see a lot or people leaving their homes for economic and political rea
251、sons,what kind of homes do they and can they create in their new place?Originally,home was just built as a shelter,a protection against the environment,but it has become a complex space a personal space reflecting the individual.What happens to people who are forced to leave their homes and make a n
252、ew home in a shelter;how do they combine that shelter and an identity for themselves?”Professor Kathy MezeiProfessor Emerita,Department of Humanities,Simon Fraser University 65PLACELIFE AT HOMESUMMARYThe home cannot be limited by physical space it continues beyond the four walls of a residence.The f
253、eelings and emotions of a home such as safeness,comfort,caring,belonging and familiarity can be found in multiple places.Needs,emotions and activities that until now have been confined to the home,are moving outside of it,extending the home in the process.Neighbourhoods and cities are offering us ne
254、w places to kick back,relax and be ourselves.Claiming public spaces as our own private ones,gives access to the city for more people.But our reduced sense of privacy at home practically and emotionally complicates our relation to our home and the definition of it.How do we define the home,when the e
255、motional and practical needs of home can be met in other places?And is it really possible to replace a safe,permanent haven with other solutions?Focusing on basic human needs when we shape our homes and cities could perhaps be a good way to reinvent what actually makes a home.ALL OVER THE PLACE66PLA
256、CELIFE AT HOMEWHY DO YOU THINK IT IS INTERESTING TO EXPLORE THE MEANING OF THE HOME AND DOMESTIC SPACE?Its a complicated question.It is important to dis-tinguish between the material home and the psy-chological and emotional home.Most of us think of home as something as a concrete-physical but this
257、is not the case for everybody.What does home mean to a homeless person?We must dis-tinguish between these two.In the West,up until the 1700-century,the home was also a work place.The idea of home as we know it is quite new.The concept of intimacy and privacy is relatively new but at the same time,we
258、 see a change today.The home is becoming a new workspace.We are going back again to where the house and home combine everyday family life and work.But what does that mean to our homes?How do you create a home with intimacy,coziness and comfort when its also a place for work?WHAT DOES HOME AND DOMEST
259、IC SPACE MEAN TO US?In the West we want intimacy,privacy and conven-ience at home.But today,the housing situation in many large cities is terrible.Very few people can KATHY MEZEIProfessor Emerita in the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver,also co-author of the book Domes
260、tic Space Readerafford housing.And we can see the same develop-ment everywhere.Therefore people are opening up their homes to rent out a room,for example,to be able to afford living in the city.I am wonder-ing what it means for the concept of home.What happens if you cant have privacy?Maybe,we will
261、create platforms for objects that make you feel more at home.INTERVIEW67SUMMARY68HOME:A NEVER-ENDING JOURNEYSUMMARYLIFE AT HOMEThe ways in which we design,construct and live in our homes are reflections of the world around us.Our basic feelings and needs at home are con-stant,but changing values,lif
262、estyles and societies force us to meet these needs in different ways and different places than before.We all have our own personal needs,dreams and aspirations at home,but we have found some common tendencies in how the idea of the home is being reinvented.Our crowded cities impact the physical cond
263、i-tions of our homes.Housing shortages,more ex-pensive living and smaller spaces affect our pos-sibilities to meet our needs at home.Values that previously were associated with the home are now sought for outside the four walls of our residencies.We stimulate our need for hominess and belonging by r
264、e-energising our neighbourhoods blurring the line between public and private.People are creating homes away from their homes.The new physical circumstances in our homes are balanced by digitalization,which fundamental-ly changes our human social behaviour as well as HOME:A NEVER-ENDING JOURNEY69HOME
265、:A NEVER-ENDING JOURNEYSUMMARYLIFE AT HOMEour concepts of being alone and socialising.With new technology,we can be alone,together or together and alone.This also creates an increased need for privacy and lone time.To meet our needs,our homes have to be flexible enough to make room for both privacy
266、and socialising physical as well as digital.Shrinking living spaces and increased aware-ness about sustainable living create a new ap-proach to the things in our homes.On the one hand,we let things play a bigger part in our lives and actively interact with them to feel good in our homes.On the other
267、 hand,we want to be mindful of our things and keep our homes uncluttered.We are moving from appreciating things for their own sake,to valuing the experiences they bring.In this new age,the things that are important to us are the ones that enable us to do what we love.When our possibilities to adjust
268、 the three-di-mensional aspects of our homes are limited,we can turn to our senses an unexplored area with great potential to improve our lives at home.The senses have a strong impact on our emotions and behaviours and thereby our personal well-being at home.Urban life brings a sensory environment t
269、hat places new demands on our homes.Paying more attention to our senses could not only bene-fit our well-being at home,but perhaps also offer new and unexpected solutions to the challenges we face in our lives at home today.No matter how we define what makes a home connected to space,things,relation
270、ships or place what matters is that we reflect on how the changes in the world around us impact our lives at home.And that we try to use that knowledge to meet our personal preferences and needs.For us at IKEA,this report is only the start of our journey.To truly understand what makes a home,we must
271、 view the home as a never-ending,constantly changing idea.With this report,we have shared some insights on how people of today feel in their homes,what they need from their homes and how they create mean-ing in their lives at home.But as the world around us changes,so does our life at home.We will c
272、on-tinue to explore what makes a home in order to improve our business and to be able to create a better life at home for the many people.“WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY,WE CAN BE ALONE,TOGETHER OR TOGETHER AND ALONE.”70REAL LIFE STORIES71THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEAT
273、IKEA,WE visit thousands of homes every year.We ask people to invite us into their homes in order for us to fully understand how they live,what their needs are,their frustrations,their hap-py moments and their dreams.We know a lot about whats going on in peoples lives at home.We also know that the ev
274、er-changing world around us affects the way we live,which means that life at home is constantly evolving.More people move to the cities,we live in smaller living spaces and in new types of household constellations.Compact living has become standard for many of us.Living in a confined space alone or
275、with others is a constant compromise between different opinions and needs,practical as well as emotional.In our survey we found that private space is a top prior-ity for improving well-being at home.At the same time,almost half of the people in our survey think of their homes as where they have thei
276、r most im-portant relationships.The tension between want-ing to have private and social space is clear,and perhaps more interesting now than ever.When my father was growing up,that family had 50 people in one house.There were so many people in the house that it was not possible for them to have meal
277、s together.So first the children had their meals,then the men,and then the ladies.Milind,living with wife,two grown up children and their grandmotherMumbaiNot that long ago,we did almost everything with other people around.An entire family liv-ing in the same room made it difficult to have a private
278、 space for eating,sleeping or attending to personal needs.The options for private space were limited,and self-expression was not at the top of the agenda.But times change and today we live differently.Perhaps more importantly,we also think differently.We seek to fulfil ourselves more than ever,we wa
279、nt our lives to be meaning-ful and our homes to be more than just a place to sleep.Many want their homes to express who they are and we expect this from other peoples homes too.Increased emphasis on the individual can be seen everywhere,more in some parts of the world than others,and its an importan
280、t driv-er of the increased need for personal space.We THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOME72THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEwant to make our own life choices,create our own destinies and have room for me in our homes a need for privacy and the ability to expr
281、ess our personalities.As part of this,the friction between the private and the social is growing.At IKEA,we want to learn more about this in order to continue creating solutions that can make life at home bet-ter,both today and tomorrow.My dream home is designed by myself,and its my own work.Its imp
282、ortant for me to do it myself.The things made by me suit my own personal need.”Pascal,living in a dormitory with another studentShanghaiIn this study we interviewed people in Stockholm,Shanghai,Mumbai and New York.We wanted to understand more about their feelings of home and in particular how they v
283、iew the tension between private and social needs.THE ME AND THE WE AT HOME Its important having social as well as private spheres in the home.In my dream home I would be able to have a big social space where I could invite others for dinners,as well as a more private part with bedrooms and so on.If
284、I,after hosting a big dinner,could offer everyone a sofa for a nap or a space where they could just relax,that would be richness to me.The way we live now does not afford us that many options,since we have chosen to live in the city centre which means that we live in a small apartment.It can be a bi
285、t frustrating when we have to rearrange the room every time we have friends over for dinner.But I much prefer to live in a small space in the city centre compared to having more living space outside of the city.Fredrik,living with husband and babyStockholm73THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMERE
286、AL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEWhen reflecting on the statements and views expressed by the 17 families and households we visited,we found two essential emotional needs that people expect their homes to accommodate;the me and the we.The me concerns the devel-opment and recharging of oneself a sanctuary,
287、a place to rest,a place to engage in activities that are just about you.The we concerns activities with others nurturing and building relationships,and spending time with family and friends.For me,home is where I come back to my nephew and niece.It doesnt make me feel alone,I do need people around m
288、e.When I go home,my niece comes jumping at me.That human interaction,human feeling,is important for me at home.Sameer,living with mother,brother,sister-in-law,and nieceMumbaiThe need for love and belonging extends beyond the four walls of our homes.But reflecting over what the people in this study s
289、ay,there seem to be special emotions attached to spending time with others at home that for some cant be satisfied in other places.The people we met describe a spe-cific feeling of being the most relaxed me in their homes a feeling that appears to make socialising in the home more effortless than in
290、 other places.Socialising with others at home seems to be an important part in the making of a home and,for many,relationships are what actually transform a house into a home.74THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOME It would be very different living without social spac
291、es in the home.We could either not invite people over,or instead go out to spend time with them.It would be ok,but it would be a big pity.That way the home would mainly be a place to rest.Feng Wang Wei,living with wife,parents,and child starting schoolShanghaiMany of us can relate to having moments
292、of quiet-ness,like when the rest of the household has gone to bed and we can sink into a comfortable sofa in front of the TV,or even doing the simplest things like chopping vegetables.Living in smaller spaces,these little moments are important for us to feel privacy at home.But having privacy is not
293、 only about being physically alone.The psychological do people relate to the friction between me and we?How do they create solutions to combine the two?On the following pages we describe the issue using real peoples own words.The home is where we can be most comfortable and unproductive.We can be to
294、gether in the same room,but not talk to each other and still feel good.Juliette,living with friendand two dogsShanghaiaspects of privacy include being free from expec-tations and just be“the most relaxed me”.Some-times we can experience this with other people around us,being as comfortable as can be
295、.Some people describe meeting the love of their life as“coming home”.Perhaps its because in our most secure relationships we can combine the me and the we.And the same goes the other way around:in order to be able to nurture the we,we benefit from privacy.The me and the we are dependent on each othe
296、r and the challenge is to make them work together to feel good in our homes.So how 75THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMETHE FRICTION BETWEEN MEAND WE AT HOME Privacy is probably my biggest frustration living like this.My parents living habits are different from mine
297、,and if I could choose I would make a childs room for my son,which would also make it easier for me to have privacy.When my son gets older,we can move to our own place but right now its necessary to live with my parents in order for them to take care of my son when my wife and I are at work.Feng Wan
298、g Wei,living with wife,parents,and child starting schoolShanghaiMaking time and space for the sometimes con-flicting needs of the me and the we within the same home is often a tricky puzzle.We often have to make trade-offs.Their inherent differ-ences create tension across the home.As an ex-ample,soc
299、ial gatherings can easily disturb some-ones privacy,but taking excessive care not to disturb others can also be limiting.The lack of control over the psychological space seems to be an issue for many of the people we talked to.To a certain degree,these disturbances and frus-trations are daily compan
300、ions for all people who share a home with others.Living with others can be seen as a constant compromise.We move in together and bring belongings that dont match.We live together and have to make room for our different needs.And as we know,the rapid in-crease in people moving to cities means that pe
301、ople have to live in smaller spaces and in new types of household constellations sometimes even with complete strangers.Considering that we can only expect this trend to grow,the friction between me and we is becoming more important to understand than ever.As soon as someone opens the door they can
302、see me in my bed,which makes it hard for me.Also,the other person living in my room talks 76THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEvery loudly when he speaks to his girlfriend every evening.The biggest reason for me living here is that it is cheap.Pascal,living in a dor
303、mitory together with another studentShanghaiOf course,living with others is also positive in many ways:the feeling of joy you get when com-ing home from work and being greeted by chil-dren,a partner or a pet or the feeling of belong-ing when you eat a spontaneous dinner together with a room-mate.But
304、 we could see in our home visits that privacy is not always prioritised,for practical,emotional or financial reasons.Some-times people simply cant have physical privacy at home,and sometimes they prioritise other things.Another aspect of the me-we tension is the fact that not all of us share our hom
305、es with others.Single households make up a large percentage of todays homes and our survey shows that people who live alone feel more privacy and stillness at home than others but on the other hand sense less love and belonging.We tackle the tension between private and public space from different an
306、gles depending on how we live.When my girlfriend or some other family member is visiting,it makes me feel very different.When I have someone at home waiting for me,it gives me the urge to go home early rather than work late.Yan Chenhao,living singleShanghai Looking at the numbers in our survey,most
307、people describe their home as the place where they have their most important relationships and most say that they are satisfied with their homes.But when we enter peoples homes and spend time with them,we discover another side.The public-private tension means that people have moments when they feel
308、frustrated and out of control.We see that people,regardless of how they live,find creative ways of adapting and mak-ing room for private and social space.It might be simple things like using earbuds to create a zone of privacy in a cramped dorm room or hav-ing blankets for guests to use when sitting
309、 on the floor and,thereby,creating social space.Some of these habits are so insignificant that people would never even think to acknowledge them in a sur-vey.But they are there.And they are signs that adaptations to the new compact way of living are taking place.THE FLEXIBLE HOME The balcony is my s
310、pecial place.Sometimes I spend time on the balcony just to be alone.We can still look at each other,but it still feels more like privacy to me.She watches TV,I have a scotch and smoke a cigar.Matthew,living with wife and toddlerNew YorkPeople who live together with others in small spac-es often have
311、 a hard time finding privacy inside their homes.Still,many have their own methods for getting more space and time to themselves,as well as for being social.When there are no designated private and public rooms,people find creative solutions adapted to suit smaller spac-77THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONS
312、HIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEes.For many,the spaces in their homes must be multifunctional.The living room must be able to be transformed into a dining room and bedrooms must function as both studies and places for sleep-ing.In our interviews,we have seen a lot of exam-ples of creative w
313、ays to transform a home in small ways.Lets now look at how people find solutions for managing the constant tension between me and we at home.CREATING PRIVATE SPACE Since I live in a foreign country and cant visit my family,the home for me is a place that I can come back to after a long day of work a
314、nd just relax.Get away from all the stress that Shanghai brings.Diego,living singleShanghaiDespite the fact that our need for privacy seems to be universal,our study indicates that privacy can mean different things to different people.When we look at our survey we find that Mum-bai has the highest p
315、roportion of respondents who crave more private space in order to increase their well-being.But in our interviews,we found that requirements concerning the personal sphere were sometimes less in Mumbai than in New York and Stockholm,for example.This indicates that the physical definition of privacy
316、varies between individuals,and probably also between cultures.For some,it could be enough just to closetheir eyes,while others demand more to experience privacy.We have a lot in common so we dont feel that we need to be alone.We are always doing the things we want to do,but together.That is how we d
317、o to feel relaxed.But sometime its a chal-lenge living in a small space,and that is why we have always wanted to have a two-room apartment so that we dont have to disturb each other.For example,one time I sat a whole night on the floor in the bathroom and worked when I didnt want to disturb Andreas.
318、Norah,living with boyfriendStockholm78THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEDuring our home visits,we observed that many create privacy by having a favourite place in their homes,a physical place that is special to me.For instance,one of our interviewees in New York al
319、-ways sits in her favourite spot in the right-hand corner of the sofa when working from home,chat-ting in the evening or working after her boyfriend has gone to bed.A woman who was interviewed in Stockholm always lies down on the bed with her laptop on her knee when she comes home from work.Having a
320、“favourite”spot seems to be one way in which people create a sense of privacy.When I want to have privacy,I read a book.Even if someone talks to me I dont hear it.Books are privacy for me.Juliette,living with friendand two dogsShanghaiHabits,rules and routines are other ways in which people create p
321、rivate space at home.We observed a group of flatmates in New York who used coordinated schedules,allowing each one to get at least some alone-time in their shared apart-ment each week.A woman co-habiting with three others in Stockholm is a strong advocate for house rules,stating their importance in
322、achieving some sense of privacy.In her flat they use signals,like leaving their door ajar if they are not at home and closing it if they want time to themselves.She claims that she gets more privacy living togeth-er with non-relatives simply because of the clear-ly-stated rules and set routines.When
323、 she was living with her husband and children,she never reflected on her need for privacy.Looking back,she now understands that privacy was something that she was missing.In some of the homes we visited,we found that making room for me at home can be achieved through objects that act as symbols for
324、private space.Pascal,a Chinese student sharing a 15 m2 dorm room in Shanghai,faces perhaps the great-79THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEest challenges in achieving privacy of all the in-terviewees in our study.His bed is barely a metre from his roommates bed.Never
325、theless,Pascal has found ways to increase his sense of privacy.He keeps a rice cooker and a kettle by the foot of his bed,so that he can make some tea or rice whenever he feels like it.This appears to give him more psychological control over the space.He has also hung some decorations on the wall ab
326、ove his bed.Pascal says that looking at them gives him a feeling of privacy and makes him feel at home.Some people we met are also in the habit of leav-ing their residence to get more privacy.One man in New York fulfils his need for privacy on the sub-way.There he gets the time alone that he needs,a
327、lthough in the company of strangers.Like many others,one man we met in Shanghai describes cafs as his quiet places.During our interview ses-sions,we also met people who found their calm spots in natural settings.Our survey supports the conclusion that the“extended”home is often used to create space
328、for privacy.Another interesting finding is that food and cooking are not only seen as social activities,but also as a way of getting privacy and me-time.For most people,food is a central part of the home.In our survey,we found that 30 per cent of respond-ents want to eat more food at home to improve
329、 their well-being.Cooking is also the most common activity that people who took the survey undertake to create a homey feeling(63%of respondents).However,during our visits we observed that food and cooking werent only used to create a home-like atmosphere.For some,preparing a meal is also a meditati
330、ve,Zen-like activity and gives them a moment for themselves.Cooking is by no means the only activity people employ to create a private space at home.Other examples include leaving dinner to go and do the dishes alone in the kitchen,taking long showers,or repairing things.During our home visits,we fo
331、und these types of activities being employed as a means of creating a private“space”of ones own.CREATING SOCIAL SPACE Its all the family members and extended family members,having lunch and dinner together.Its the celebration of anybodys birthday.When my mother turned 80 I had 40 people over.So spac
332、e is not the thing,its how you enjoy it.Ashwini,living with husband,mother in law and two grown up childrenMumbaiIn our survey we could see that relationships are the key to what makes a home almost half of our respondents say so.Naturally,the home then needs to provide room for relationships in the
333、 best possible way,regardless of the space we live in.We saw interesting examples of how people work with the physical space,and we also observed 80THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS OF HOMEREAL LIFE STORIESLIFE AT HOMEthat the definition of what social space is differs between individuals.For some people,space for relationships at home can mean a specific room for socialising,while for others,physi