Yesterday I was putting forward the idea that instead of “nationality” and “citizenship” we should think of “habitat” and “inhabitants”.
Today I came across this photo from a couple of years ago and it struck me that in this one image are four entirely different types of dwelling…..a house boat, two old but different detached houses, one very symmetrical with a central door, a window directly above, and two windows, one on each side, at both ground floor and first floor level, the other house tall, brick, and really unusual window frames, one per floor. The behind these a modern three or four storey apartment block.
Imagine what it might be like to live in each of these places. Don’t you think the experience would be quite different in each one?
Of course, a lot of modern housing is very “standard” with identical layouts and architecture, but even if that’s the kind of place where you live, don’t you think that kind of “habitat” influences both your daily experience of life, and, probably also, your world view.
I wonder how much our immediate “habitat” of the building we dwell in influences how we experience life? I suspect it’s quite a lot.
Of course, we can then expand our view and take in more than the house or flat where we live, to see the street, the neighbourhood, and the town or city. We can expand it further to consider the country where we find that town or city, which takes us beyond the physical environment of land and nature to the social values, habits and laws.
Finally, let’s expand that idea of “habitat” artificially bound by invented invisible borders and consider the entire “biome” of planet Earth, because we all share that particular habitat.
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