Paper short abstract:

The culturally widespread notion of single-family houses as lifelong homes is not only challenged by the latest financial crisis but by changing needs in different phases of life. How do families who invested in a single-family home deal with this situation?

Paper long abstract:

In my contribution, I discuss the cultural ideal of single-family houses being a lifelong home 'to the bitter end' as one woman pointed out. My research is based on qualitative interviews and house tours guided by the owners. It is based on a praxeological approach with focus on materiality and considers altogether 20 cases, located in three different settlements in the West of Germany. By concentrating on two specific aspects I will demonstrate how the ideal of living in a newly built single-family home for the rest of one's life is challenged by changing needs, e.g. parents considering that children may want a swing in the backyard, teenagers having an increased need for privacy, and in the own old age one may become care-dependent. To illustrate these multiple ideals and how these concepts are enacted I focus on the families' daily routines and practices. First I will discuss the ideal of a green childhood. Children are one of the main aspects influencing the families' decision of where to live. Children are thought to play in a private garden or on calm streets without being endangered by traffic. Whereas single-family houses are planned precisely as being the perfect place for children to grow up, the visions of the own sunset years in this house remain rather vague. Let alone the questions: How to climb the stairs between the floors and enter the house at all? Or: How to sell the house with profit to finance care in old age?