Integrated Findings

Abstract

This chapter integrates key findings from the component studies of the Home Space research program (i.e., the separate physical, socioeconomic, and ethnographic studies), as also evidenced in the preceding Life Stories. It does not attempt to summarize the extensive detailed component studies, as these—as well as summaries of each—are available online (see www.homespace.dk). The text also deliberately avoids excessive referencing (to what would essentially be the component reports) and, as such, the reader is encouraged to access these studies, or at least the summaries, to better understand the provenance of the material presented. This synthesis is organized around six key areas of findings (backed up by much more detailed analysis in the component reports), each with a section in this chapter:

• (i) The impact of urbanization and the perceived nature of what is “urban:”

• (ii) The dominant points of reference for peri-urban residents;

• (iii) Sociocultural factors that condition home spaces and are conditioned by them in turn;

• (iv) How these values are translated into physical space and form;

• (v) Home space aspirations and decision making;