290041 VO Multi-locality: a social practice and its consequences (2014S)

This lecture deals with the complex and diverse phenomenon of residential multi-locality. Long-distance commuters using secondary residences at their work places, couples with separate
homes, children shuttling back and forth between their separated parents’ households, or families with weekend homes: Multi-locational living, understood as living at more than one place, has been gaining importance for a growing number of people. New information and transport technologies enable to connect several distant living places. Nonetheless concrete places, place making and face-to-face contacts persist important. Multi-locality, which signifies specific spatio-temporal patterns, brings challenges for everyday life. It has an structuring effect on work, spatial mobility, social relations, political involvement, leisure time activities etc. It leads to specific space use patterns and needs for infrastructure.
The lecture deals with terminological, conceptual and methodological questions. Different typologies are presented. Various forms and characteristics of multi-locational living arrangements are elaborated using concrete empirical examples.