Having worked in housing now for some 30 years, lots of things have pushed me outside of my comfort zone: some by choice, some by necessity, some by invite.
Most recently, I have participated for the first time in a Podcast with the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MODA) about meanings of home. This uses MoDA’s vast collections in developing stories on the meanings of home around current issues, such as dementia, in creative new ways, to explore wider insights through conversations with others who also engage with the collections.
I have previously participated in a short film about using MODA’s extensive archived resources around housing and health and how we can understand the past to inform our thinking in the present and how we can more effectively intervene. This is available here.
MODA’s resources have helped both inform and develop some earlier work and as we were writing Environmental Health and Housing, it became increasingly obvious that we needed to think much more about what home means, and this became a major focus of our book. Crucially home has to be about feeling secure and having a sense of control and autonomy. What we need at home changes across the life course as we develop from babies, to children, to working age adults to older adults. Some may have more specific needs for example due to disability or dementia. Crucially home has to be about feeling secure and having a sense of control and autonomy
Next month, I will be posting on Two Artists and their Homes: how they shaped their home and how their homes shaped their creative spirit.
With thanks to MODA for permission to use this information.
