Dwelling: the immaterial and the Internet

Jared Infanger

"Dwelling"-- a technical term denoting a subjective sense of belonging and individual experiences within a community-- has been primarily associated with physical locales within the material world. The proliferation of the internet and online social networking sites, which are not reliant on place-specific locations, suggests dwelling's immaterial nature is reemerging. This thesis considers this reemergence and indicates the "virtual realm" of the internet accentuates dwelling's immaterial aspects, reestablishing its importance and balancing its significance in relation to dwelling's material attributes. Chapter One reviews extant dwelling literature, revealing that the historiography of "dwelling"--while emphasizing its material attributes--contains a sub-narrative alluding to its immaterial attributes. Fourteen dwelling attributes are derived from the literature and each attribute's material and immaterial aspects are discussed. Chapter Two focuses on these fourteen attributes and discusses how they find expression online. The results from a survey, based on a convenience sampling of the demographic groups: 18- 24, 25-34, 35-40, 41-54, 55 and up, show that physical presence remains important; but the data also indicates that increased online presence is occurring and in a transitional phase, and hence there is a decreased dependence upon physical locations. The final chapter presents findings and suggestions for future research. Dwelling attributes that have not found complete expression online are discussed. The thesis concludes with suggestions for how the architectural profession can contribute and embrace the developing virtual domain. More research is needed, but this emerging area of study presents exciting opportunities to understand how dwelling's immaterial aspects are highlighted in the virtual world.

Dwelling: the immaterial and the Internet

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