Housing in human perspective

One of mans basic concerns is a house-a place to find protection from the rain and elements. But
a house can be much more than a building. It is the social context of his family life-the place
where he loves and shares with those who are closest to him. And in the world where poorer
people are striving for a higher standard of living, a house can be a symbol of mans self respect.
Very Reverend Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Do you take for granted that housing meets a basic human need? Wouldn't you say that
housing protects people from the weatherfrom heat and cold, wetness and wind? In fact,
housing is often described as a basic necessity akin to food and clothing. Yet, among
many of the worlds peoples, both clothing and housing are so minimal as to suggest that
they are almost nonexistent. For example, when Charles Darwin made his famous voyage on
the Beagle in 1831, he traveled down the coast of South America to the southernmost tip of
Tierra del Fuego, a cold and desolate area. However, the Ona who lived there built no true
shelter to protect them against the bitter climate. They wore little clothing and constructed
only crude windbreaks. These rude shelters contrasted dramatically with elaborate coneshaped huts which the Ona used for ceremonial purposes. A sharp contrast between buildings
created for human shelter and buildings erected for public or ritual purposes can be
observed in many cultures including our own. In many civilized countries, large sums of
money are spent on magnificent buildings to house religious, government, and business opera tions while people live in slums in their very shadow.
In 1927 when Sir Baldwin Spencer reported his study of the Arunta, a Stone Age
people of central Australia, he found that they, like the Ona, lived in crude shelters
offering little protection from the elements. These shelters were made of stakes and sticks
laced together and thatched with grass to form low, domelike structures. Since they are
hunters, the Arunta are constantly on the move in search of food. Therefore, they often make
do with even less in the way of shelter ---just a wurley, or windbreak, a lean-to made of
shrubs set against the prevailing winds. To protect themselves from the night cold, the
Arunta, who have no clothing or coverings to protect them in sleep, may have a fire in front of
or inside these crude shelters. Sometimes they travel at night, passing a lighted torch around
their bodies to keep them warm.
If human beings can survive under harsh conditions with shelter that provides only minimal
protection from the elements, is the question of needs served by housing more complicated
than we first thought?
Shelter and human needs
Housing meets many different human needs. These can be examined individually and also in
relation to each other. The late psychologist Abraham Maslow provided a useful framework for
understanding human needs in his studies of human motivation. In 1954 Maslow proposed that
needs be ranked at five levels, creating what he called a hierarchy of human needs. In Maslows
hierarchy, needs are ranked from lowest to highest. Beginning with physiological needs and
culminating in the need for self-actualization. Unless needs at lower levels are reasonably well
met, people rarely succeed in establishing themselves at higher levels of the hierarchy.

At the first level are physiological needs. These biological, or tissue, needs are the same
for all members of the human species. They are the most elemental needs. Human beings need
food to eat, air to breathe, space to move in, space in which to expel the byproducts of body
functions, and they need rest and sleep. They also need to maintain a body temperature within a
narrow range of normal (98.6F, or 37C). Meeting these needs adequately helps the body to
maintain the steady state, called homeostasis, essential for maintaining physical health. Unless
biological needs are at least minimally met, the individual cannot survive.
Once basic physiological needs are met, the needs at the second level, which Maslow
termed security or safety needs, must be met. People want to keep and protect what they have.
Security is experienced as predictabilitythat is, they know there is some continuity and stability
in what is happening to and around them, and they know they will be sate from harm. Security in
this context includes a predictable food supply, predictable human relations, and predictable
routines. At this level ritual and ceremony enter human life. These contribute to feelings of basic
security by suggesting that it is possible to control the events on which human survival depends.
For example, human beings have devised chants to bring rain, created sacred pictures and objects
to guarantee good crops and good hunting, and invented magic and religious rituals so that
supernatural forces would look more favorably on one group than on another.
The third level of the hierarchy represents social needs, which include feelings of
belonging, acceptance, and being loved, People need people. They need contact and association
with other human beings to become fully human. For this reason they form social groups,
establish families of many types, and invent complex social institutions. They need opportunities
to give and receive friendship and love.
Fourth in Maslow's hierarchy are self-esteem or ego needs. Each human being needs to
feel positively about himself. This comes from a feeling of belonging, of participating effectively
in the group to which one belongs and from which one derives feelings of security. It includes
feelings of self-confidence, achievement, competence, and independence.
At the apex, or top, of the hierarchy are self-actualization needs. Each person who is born
is an inherited "bundle of human potential." Each person has unique abilities and talents. Unless
lower-level needs have been reasonably well met, there may never be the opportunity to become a
self-actualizing personthat is, a person who has become what he or she is uniquely capable of
becoming, a person who is self-fulfilled. Recently, we have begun to speak of the "good" family
as a unit that allows for and encourages self-actualization for all its members.

At any given time, we find individuals and families meeting needs at different levels of the
hierarchy; many are at the bottom, a fortunate few are at the top.
While human beings share these basic needs, they are met differently in different cultures.
As we saw in the case of the Ona and the Arunta, housing sometimes contributes little to meeting
basic needs. Other cultures, where Western influences have not changed traditional styles of
living, may serve to illustrate the varied and complex ways human beings have devised to meet
their needs. For example, all human beings need to rest and sleep, but consider how that need is
met in Japan, where people sleep on woven mats on an earthen floor. The mats can be rolled up
and stored out of sight during the day. Would a "bedroom" make sense to them? The Japanese also
enjoy communal bathing. Would a one-person shower in a tiny lavatory suit this custom?
The traditional Chinese regard mealtime as a family occasion. In India, however, the women in the
family cook for the men and eat only after the men and children have been fed. Might they be
puzzled by our dining rooms and 'eat-in" family kitchens? In our own society, a family's life-style
may influence its attitudes toward space for such basic needs as sleeping and eating, and also its
attitude toward using outdoor space in meeting these needs.
Let's examine housing in the light of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and suggest ways in which
shelter of different kinds contributes to their satisfaction.

Physiological needs. Minimal shelter such as that of the Arunta may provide a place to
rest and sleep--a time when human beings are especially vulnerable. However, where only
minimal shelter exists, other physical needs may be met outside the shelter. Food may be
eaten out-of-doors or prepared at a fire close to the shelter. Air and space are amply
provided by the larger environment. However, while all human beings must breathe,
people from different cultures may disagree on what kind of air is "breathable." Don't
people from. Western cultures tend to share the view that fresh air, ample light, and
constant ventilation are basic to their physical well-being? However, the Eskimo and
Plains Indians could tolerate high concentrations of smoke; some Oriental peoples are less
affronted by bathroom odors than Westerners, and many African tribes prefer that their
houses be dark for ritual purposes. By contrast, housing in the modern Western world is
designed to provide a reasonably controlled environment with respect to light, temperature,
ventilation, and sanitation. It also provides a place to sleep, prepare food, and meet basic
hygienic body functions.
Security and safety needs. Housing creates a shell for its occupants and protects them
from the outside world. Within its shell, a family or other human group can feel safe. It
can accumulate and safeguard its possessions. The family can store food and other
items needed to maintain itself. The house may also be the center for the group's ritual
observances and may provide a place for the family's sacred objects, a shrine, o r o t h e r
stability- oriented possessions such as family portraits or heirlooms. In
the United States, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which
prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures," guarantees the fundamental
right of citizens to be secure in their homes.

The winter house, or igloo, shown in this model meets the Eskimo family's basic
needs. Its unique form and structure are necessitated both by materials and by
environmental factors and influence the household activities and family
relationships that take place within it. (American museum of Natural
History)

Social n eeds. Hous ing provides a setting for interaction and the intimate
activities t h a t make up our s o c i a l e x p e r i e n c e . H o u s i n g h a s tremendous
impact on social r e l a t io ns . The fo rm of h ous in g dictates the ac ti vi t i es that
can ta ke place in it. In cultures w h e r e t h e r e are " m e n ' s h o u s e s " and
"women's houses," or where teenage boys and girls live in houses apart from
their parents, social relations are quite different from situ a t i o n s where
housing accommodates a single nuclear family. Furthermore, in every
culture, the form of the house, the layout of space, and the arrangement of
furnishings and equipment i n f l u e n c e t h e n a t u r e o f the activities that can
take place within its walls. For example, dining patterns in American families
are influenced by the space available, whether in an eat-in kitchen, a dining
alcove, or a dining room. These differences affect the way family meals are
planned and served and the type of entertaining that can be arranged. I n
American f a m i l y life, the social need for loving interaction plays an
important role in obtaining and maintaining satisfactory housing.

Self-esteem or ego needs. In most cultures, housing has a status-conferring function.

That is what Pedro Arrupe. Supervisor General of the Jesuits, is referring to in the
quotation at the opening of this chapter. Every culture has an image of how its
people ought to live. To the extent that shelter conforms to the norms of the society,
self-esteem is enhanced. Our concept of self is reinforced when our homes meet the ex pectations of our peer group. In our society, success confers status, and feelings of
accomplishment and achievement are important components of self-esteem. Success allows a

family to move up, and upward mobility includes an improved standard of living represented
by access to improved housing and improved services in a "better" neighborhood than the family
enjoyed previously. Compare, for example, the birthplace of presidents with the prestige of
living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! To many, moving to a "better" house in a "better"
neighborhood becomes a symbol of success. To the extent that our homes enhance our feelings
of personal worth, they contribute to self-esteem needs. This is not to suggest that we must
strive to "keep up with the Joneses." Rather it means that we can seek ways to express sellesteem in the places we inhabit, (The ego-enhancing function of housing is explored in Minireading 1, "The House as Symbol of Self.")

Self-actualization needs. Important, too, is our nerd for order, beauty, and mean ing in
our lives. Directing creativity toward meeting this need is an advanced concept that is
realized in the context of the values and goals considered important by a particular person
or family. For self-actualizing people and families, housing is more than a place to live.
It is the place to be and the place to become what each person alone or as part of a group
is uniquely capable of becoming. This means that housing needs become distinctly
individualized and personalized as we move up in Maslow's hierarchy. Hobbies, crafts,
studies, and leisure time pursuits may all contribute to sell-actualization. Consequently,
whether or not housing meets this need is a highly sub jective evaluation concerning what
factors in housing and in the home environment are likely to contribute to authentic selfdevelopment for each family member. In this context, the home may be a reflection, in fact
a symbol, of self-expression and self-realization.

Needs, wants, and life-styles

Maslow's hierarchy provides a useful framework for identifying the interlocking needs that may
be served by shelter. More subtle, and perhaps harder to identify, are the myriad wants we
develop over a lifetime and associate with housing. These wants, some of which might be
classified as luxuries rather than necessities, may be traced to (among other things) family
influences, peer pressure, or the appeals of advertising and promotion campaigns that build up
many of our expectations concerning housing.
Life-style may be defined as the way of life followed by any group of people, and it
includes their social roles and the characteristic settings in which behavior associated with those
roles takes place. A life-style may, therefore, reflect a preference for or a prejudice against a
particular way of living, sometimes at an unconscious level. In Canada and the United States
today there are many contrasting life-styles. For example, there is a "singles" life-style for young
adults who postpone marriage but establish their own households. There is a life-style for
childless married couples, and quite another life-style for couples with young or college-age
children. Retired persons enjoy a totally different life-style.
The factors most significant in establishing a life-style are age, occupation, marital status,
education, and incomeeach of which influences our social roles. A family's life-style will reflect
the work roles of the parents, their education, and their single or combined incomes, since these
factors contribute to shaping their interests and activities. Furthermore, lite-style is related to the

dominant role in a person's life at a given timesuch as the student, the young worker, the young
married, the young parent, the aging parent. As each new role gains in ascendancy, different types
of housing become appropriate to support this role for example, a dormitory, a "bachelor pad," a
honeymoon cottage, a family home, or a retirement home.
Another important aspect of life-style is the dominant sphere of activity at a given time in
a person's or a family's lifesuch as school, office, or homesince these are places where role
behavior occurs. As roles become more fragmented, life-styles become more complex and both
new behaviors (baby-sitting services or car pools, for example) and new behavior settings (day
care centers or garages, for example) may become important and must be made available in
conjunction with housing. We will return to the concept of life-style in relation to housing in later
chapters.
Maslow's hierarchy suggests the levels of intensity and importance of basic human needs. At
the physiological level, housing provides protection from the environment. Safety and
security are met by enclosures and storage space available for surplus food and ritual
objects. At the social level, housing offers opportunities" for interaction with family and
friends. Self-esteem and ego needs are met by housing that enhances the self-image. Housing
that offers ways to pursue individualized interests and hobbies contributes to selfactualization.

Housing and human ecology

The branch of sociology called human ecology concerns itself mainly with demographic
problems, including the populations residing in urban centers. However, in 1899, the newly
founded profession of home economics rejected the title human ecology on the grounds that the
term had been preempted by biological science. However, the home economics profession has,
since its inception, been concerned with the interdependence of the household, the family, and the
environment. Therefore, we may say that for our purposes human ecology is less a distinct
discipline than it is a point of view. Paul Shepard writes:
Ecology deals with organisms in an environment and with the processes that link organisms and
place. But ecology as such cannot be studied, only organisms, earth, air, and sea can be studied. It
is not a discipline: there is no body of thought and technique which frames an ecology of man. It
must be therefore a scope or a way of seeing. Such a perspective on the human situation is very
old and has been part of philosophy for thousands of years...?
Simply defined, ecology is the study of organisms and their environment in a process of
dynamic interaction. Human ecology provides a way of looking at human beings and their habitats
and of studying the interaction between the two. This ecological approach includes a study of the
family, the home, the community, and also of the larger environment.
Ecological interdependence
All living things need space in which to live. That space provides the living organism with lifegiving substances, such as air, water, and food, and absorbs life-threatening substances, such as
the byproducts of life processes. The amount of space necessary for each organism's survival
depends on its need for these substances and the rate at which the surrounding environment can
absorb waste products. Every living thing except the human being is uniquely adapted to one
particular environment that provides these essentials. While many organisms may coexist, each
occupies a special space within the environment called its ecological niche. If environmental
conditions change or if the organism is removed from its ecological niche, it will probably die.
Over time, every species but onethe human specieshas become uniquely adapted to one
comparatively limited environment. Human beings are the only species that can survive in a wide
range of environments and the only species that can make major changes in the environment and
shape it to meet their needs.
Higher forms of life are great consumers of resources. They too need air, water, and food. Yet they
do not exploit the environment in the same way that human beings do. If they did, they would
destroy their ecological niche, and in so doing the species would doomed. By contrast, the human
species has made profound changes in the environment. Humans have destroyed forests, stripped
the land of vegetation, cleared the subsurface of its minerals, and poured their wastes into
waterways at an alarming rate. Such irresponsible uses of the environment have brought the planet
to the edge of what environmentalists refer to as eco-catastrophe, a point of no return where the
balance of nature may weigh against man.

Human ecology may be compared with plant and animal ecology. In a narrow sense, the
term has been used by sociologists to identify demographic factors that relate to population
geography, that is, the spatial distribution of settlements. Population geography stresses the
physical rather than the social environment. In the broadest context, human ecology encompasses
the totality of environmental factors (including other people) that influence human beings and in
turn are influenced by them.
To survive, the human species must cooperate in maintaining a delicate balance between
all living creatures and the natural environment on which all life depends. The animal kingdom,
including humankind, requires oxygen and produces carbon dioxide, among other wastes. The
green plants convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates in the presence of sunlight. This
process, called photosynthesis, provides the basic source of all food. Thus the interdependence of
animal and plant species is inescapable. Our absolute dependence on maintaining this balance is
overlooked when we misuse our environment. The intelligent management of our households
becomes a crucial link in maintaining this balance. We will examine ways in which ecological
concerns relate to housing decisions in later chapters.

Ecology and ecosystems. A system can be broadly defined as "any entity, conceptual or
physical, which consists of interdependent parts."' Parts of any system are uniquely related.
No part of the system can be affected without all other parts of the system being less,
equally, or more affected. So long as the system remains in dynamic equilibrium
(homeostasis), it remains functional. Systems may be closed or open. In a closed system
there are no inputs from outside and no outputs to the outside. In fact, there is no outside at
all. It is self-contained, self-sustaining, and self-perpetuating. Mechanical, self-regulating
systems fail into this category. All systems maintain themselves through feedbackthat is,
the unique capacity to receive output from the system back as input that helps in regulating
and maintaining the system. The open system has the unique capacity to maintain its
integrity despite inputs from and outputs to one or more systems outside itself. Economist
Kenneth Boulding has said:

All living organisms, including man himself, are open systems. They have to receive inputs in the
shape of air, food, water, and give off outputs in the form of effluvia and excrement Deprivation of
input of air, even for a few minutes, is fatal. Deprivation of the ability to obtain any input or to
dispose of any output is fatal in a relatively short time.
All human societies have ... been open systems.

[The family is an open systan in his context]

They receive inputs from the earth. the atmosphere, and the waters, and they give outputs into
these reservoirs: they also produce inputs internally in the shape of babies and outputs in the shape
of corpses. Given a capacity to draw upon inputs and to get rid of outputs, an open system of this
kind can persist indefinitely....
The family as an ecosystem. The human body is an open biological systemtaking
energy (carbohydrates) and other necessary nutrients from the environment, processing
these metabolically, and propelling the waste products of metabolism back into the
environment. Groups of human beings, including families, may also be studied in relation
to both the living and nonliving environment.
An ecosystem is a complex network in which mutually interdependent organisms
of the same or different species occupy the same environment. Thus, in combination wall
ecological concepts, general systems theory offers a unique way of studying human
environmental relations: The ecosystems approach affords the advantage of studying units
(including families) as wholes rather than as parts of wholes that must share the
environment if they are to survive.
In 1959 Duncan proposed the POET model for ecosystems study in sociology. The
components of the modelPopulation, Organization, Environment, and Technology
have proven extremely helpful in the study of human groups. In 1970 Hook and Paolucci
suggested that Duncan's model be applied to the family so that the family could be studied
as an ecosystem.
The family as a life support system is dependent upon the natural environment for physical
sustenance and upon the social organizations which are related to man's humanness and give
quality and meaning to life. Home economists for sometime have emphasized the social-emotional
environment.... We define family as a corporate unit of interacting and interdependent
personalities who have a common theme and goals, have a commitment over time, and share
resources and living space.
The ecological perspective has a bearing on four important aspects of housing.
First, a enables us to examine the impact of human habitats on the surrounding environment;
second, it forces us to see the household in terms of its links to the larger environment; third, it
allows us to view the family as an ecosystem, a system of inputs and losses of energy that cannot
be separated from the near environment; and lastly, it helps us to analyze the interaction of human
groups in households, neighborhoods, and communities.
Families and households
Families are the basic unit of society. However, related or unrelated persons may share a dwelling.
In recording its statistics, the United States Bureau of the Census makes a distinction between
families and households. According to the 1970 Census:

I called the plant doctor about it and all he said was environment!.....

A household consists of all the persons who occupy a housing unit. A house, an apartment or
other group of rooms, or a single room is regarded as a housing unit when it is occupied or
intended for occupancy as separate living quarters, that is when the occupants do not live and eat
with any other persons in the structure and when there is either (1) direct access burn the outside
or through a common hall or (2) a kitchen or cooking equipment for the exclusive use of the
occupants.
A family consists of two or more persons living in the same household who are related to each
other by blood, marriage, a adoption; all persons living in one household who are related to each
other are regarded as one family.
By this definition, when the occupants are related, theirs is a family home. Yet, as a matter
of fact, unrelated persons share housing and their presence in shared shelter has human,
ecological, and economic consequences.
In the United States, the norm is the nuclear or conjugal familythat is, a husband and
wife with their unmarried children. In some subgroups extended families, joint families, and
intentional families, including communal living, may be found. The distinction between
households and families for our purposes is that households account for space occupied by one
person living alone. The 1970 Census showed a significant increase in the number of people living
alone. Since the basic needs of "singles" whether youthful or agedplay an important role in the
overall housing picture, it is useful to understand the distinction.
The head-of household (the term used in the Census) is that person so considered by
household members, although in the case of married couples living together, the Census always
classifies the husband as "head of household."
A primary family for statistical purposes is one that includes among its members the head
of the household. The head of a primary family is a head of a household living with one or more
persons related to him (or her) by blood, marriage, or adoption. Thus many single persons living
with their aging parents or young children are regarded as heads of households.
The secondary family is a family living in a household with a primary family, but unrelated to the
head of household. A subfamily is a married couple with or without children, or one parent with
one or more single children under eighteen years of age, related to but not including the head of
the household or his wifefor example, a married couple living with either the husband's or the
wife's parents. From the above we can see that "family" housing may meet the needs of many
different kinds of families. Individuals have little choice- in who their family members are, but
they may have more options- in assembling members of a household. This distinction is useful in
view of the various contemporary life-styles and the demands they make on housing. For example,
modern living patterns encourage the formation of households, including such living arrangements
as dormitories, residence halls, and other types of shared quarters. Whether groups are related or
not, such household activities as meal preparation and eating, sleep and rest, leisure and
recreation, sanitation and grooming, household care, storage, and laundering must be provided.
For this reason, Part II focuses on the basic activity patterns tied to identifiable human needs,
rather than on designated areas, especially rooms, set aside for these purposes.

Although households may be more transient by definition, they nevertheless possess an

atmosphere created by the physical and emotional relationships (either positive or negative)
engendered by the living space. By contrast, family homes reflect an underlying (and perhaps
unconscious) commitment to a particular life-style over time-ideally one that is conducive to
growth, development, and the satisfaction of a variety
human needs. (See Mini-reading 2. 'Housing as a Verb.")
Neighborhood and community
Housing units cannot be studied in isolation. They are linked to the larger environment
physical, economic, political. and social by many factors. The location of housing is important to
the life-style of those who live there. Each family interacts directly with the neighborhood, the
most significant portion of the near environment.
Neighborhoods are characterized by such qualities as the life-style, ethnic identity and
social standing of their residents. Life-styles reflect the urban, suburban, and rural ways of life
typical in different sections and regions of the country. Ethnic identity sometimes persists down
trough the generations in "Little Italies or 'Chinatowns" where there have been only minor
influxes of new inhabitants. Neighborhoods that tend to become homogeneous with respect to
national origin or ethnic identity often carry over some of the traditions and customs of their
migrant or immigrant forebears. In the Old World, people tended to live close to others of the
same occupation. Early in the development of American cities, new immigrants clustered together
creating neighborhoods known as ethnic enclaves. where people shared the same language,
religion, and national customs. In an unfamiliar or alien society, they established cohesive
communities. In crowded and unfamiliar surroundings the homogeneity of a common heritage
reinforces the individual s sense of security, safety, and belonging.

Changing attitudes toward ethnicity. From the notion of a cultural "melting pot" in
which national origins were to be erased and a new national identity forged from mixed
elements, we have moved to the concept of a "cultural mosaic" in which ethnic pluralism
is consciously maintained, protected, and preserved. To the extent that ethnic identity
contributes to individual identity, each neighborhood may have some characteristics
reminiscent of another culture. Music may be Latin, or "soul," signs may be in Czech or
Chinese, newspapers may be in Yiddish or Greek. All such indicators contribute to the
flavor and excitement of diverse neighborhoods. In some areas a succession of ethnic
identities may occur as new waves of immigrants or migrants are accommodated.

Cultural diversity is reflected in the many ethnic enclaves in urban neighborhoods. Among the
most distinctive and enduring is San Franciscos Chinatown. (Vivienne, DPI)

Neighborhoods in transition. When neighborhoods become heterogeneous, as they

often do in periods of transition, instead of the security encouraged by cohesiveness,
the inhabitants may experience feelings of loneliness and separation from others, a
condition that sociologist Emile Durkheim called anomie. Anomie is the state of alienation, of disengagement from the norms that makes even those who live close to one
another virtual strangers. Together with heterogeneity, that is, the presence of people
with contrasting backgrounds and conflicting loyalties, it can contribute to insecurity
and hostility rather than to cohesiveness and cooperation.
Neighborliness is the characteristic of frequent social interaction among persons
who live next to or close to one another but who are not related. They "connect"
through sharing a common place or neighborhood, developing a feeling that can tran scend their individual differences and forge them into a larger common sphere of loy alty and support. It is this quality that advocates of neighborhood preservation such as
Jane Jacobs have sought to protect and promote in the urban selling.

What makes a neighborhood?

In addition to the human dimensions of neighborhoods, there are also physical factors to
consider in the environment. Sometimes these are taken for granted. Nevertheless, their
influence on patterns of interaction is considerable.
Natural barriers. Every region has certain natural features rivers, mountains,
slopes, gorgesthat separate people and therefore neighborhoods from one another.
These features often lend their name to an area; for example, the Left Bank for the ar tistic
quarter of Paris, Nob Hill in San Francisco, Park Slope in New York's Brooklyn, and
perhaps something like River Edge or Mountain Lakes in your own neighborhood.
Man-made barriers. Few natural areas are left untouched by human beings. As
soon as areas are settled the barriers both intentional and unintentional begin to
appear: Highways, canals, roads, bridges, tunnels, railroads, and airports spring up.
Underpasses, overpasses, subway and elevated lines, and dead-end streets are man made
barriers that create neighborhood obstructions. People fence off their property and post
"no-trespassing" signs.
Sometimes barriers reflect socioeconomic distinctions, as when one neighborhood is
on the "right" and the other on the "wrong" side of the tracks, and so psychological
barriers can be created also.
Expansion patterns. As cities grow, new neighborhoods develop. The construction
of highway systems, freeways, rapid transit, and other forms of transportation enables
some neighborhoods to leap both natural and man-made barriers. New neighborhoods may
spring up almost overnight. When inexpensive land is developed, it attracts migrants from
older city neighborhoods. In some developments new neighborhoods are in fact created by
builders who include, in addition to housing, stores, industrial sites, schools, health care facilities,
and recreational areas in the development plan.

Institutional factors. Neighborhoods may be delineated by institutional factors, such as

houses of worship or schools. For example, the families that attend a particular church or
synagogue interact as neighbors because of their mutual affiliation. Similarly, when students are
assigned to a particular school district, their parents will have occasion to interact even though
they might not otherwise encounter each other. A playground or day care center may draw
young parents into particular types of neighborhood activities.
Structural factors. The location of building entrances and windows, the location of
crosswalks, or the existence of impediments such as stairways or fences encourage some
movements while inhibiting others. Major structural factors may actually seal one neighborhood
off from another. Unfortunately, designers of both public and private housing developments
sometimes build in barriers that tend to isolate rather than integrate their inhabitants

What makes a community?

A community is made up of a number of neighborhoods. The community provides the major
institutional matrix in which family housing exists and in which families function. Many types of
institutions, such as the school and church, mentioned earlier, influence family life. The community
provides a setting in which more far-reaching concerns may be examined. For example, several
communities make up a congressional district or are serviced by a police precinct. Similar
lines are drawn for many community services in large metropolitan areas However, the rapid
unplanned growth of cities and the need for services have made the lines overlap and
crisscross, which makes delivery of effective services and administration of programs in a large
urban center especially difficult.
Community institutions serve a variety of needsbiological, psychological, and so cial.
Services are provided both by public, private, and voluntary agencies. Among these are such
varied services as those of hospitals, sanitation departments, fire departments, and political clubs.
Employees and volunteers in such agencies interact continuously with one another and with their
clientele As a result of shared concerns and the impact on the group of policies affecting the
area, a spirit of community may
develop, leading to organized efforts when like-minded residents agree to act in a cooperative way
on issues affecting them.
Without a sense of community, a rural, suburban, or urban area would be merely a
collection of residences in which each family lives an isolated, alienated existence. Continuity
over time and coordinated services are characteristic of any functional community. In its widest
sense, the term community refers to a group of people with shared interests and concerns. Many
housing problems are first discussed at the neighborhood level but are brought into wider focus at
the community level. Issues affecting the quality of life, such as zoning, land use, landmark
preservation, urban renewal, and environmental protection, are among those that may be
effectively articulated in community spokespersons. These will be further discussed in Chapter 7.
Urbanism: the impact of cities.

The city casts its long shadow on modern life. Even for those persons and families who live
remote from its obvious impact, the influence of the city on their everyday lives is nonetheless
real. In fact, the most profound changes in human life have resulted from the emergence of cities.
Not since our human ancestors left their arboreal homes to live on the ground has the human
species made such profound adjustments to survive. Urbanism and industrialization are the basic
realities of modern humanity's environmental experience. Human needs remain basically the
same, yet they must be met quite differently in urban environments since urban environments
themselves make new needs felt. The psychological significance of space and shelter and social
organization in cities cannot be underestimated.
Theron Alexander focused on this crucial problem:
One of man's outstanding achievements is the grouping of shelters into cities; such grouping is an
indication of the complexity and accomplishment of a civilization. In creating shelters in cities,
two elements become important, mass and space.... Modem architects have tried to show life as a
flow of experiences, with shelters and buildings of a city as part of that flow.... Architectural use
of space, then, means a continuity of experience created through the use of spatial forms as part of
a culture or society.
Clearly, the concentration of housing units in and around cities creates problems on
a mass scale, for the use of land and space in the urban setting has profound implications for the
quality of modern life. The individual must still meet basic needs. Shelter remains the juncture of
human/environmental interaction. But that interaction has become more complex with the
interplay of neighborhood and community forces. In 1936, Kurt Lewin defined life space as all the
facts that determine the individual's behavior at a given time. In the past forty years, those facts
have become more complex. The urban life space embraces new experiences, a new tempo of
living, new visual components on an immense scale, new ways of responding to environmental
stress, all of which make the experience of providing housing for modern families a unique and
challenging one.
Housing in human perspective provides a unique point of view in the study of shelter. It
includes consciousness of the human needs met by housing, the place of the human species in the
scheme of living things, and an awareness of the family, neighborhood, and community
institutions that are so important in the total urbanized housing environment.