Dispersion of Home in Contemporary City. A Case Study of Perception and Behaviour in Young Tokyoites

This article explores the multidimensional concept of home through the relationship of the self and the city. The case study is Tokyo, and sense of home and homelike activities of its young dwellers are explored, analyzed, and discussed within the integrated unity of their spatial, sociocultural, and psychological/temporal properties. Semistructured interviews were conducted in order to grasp the rhythm and the dynamics of the daily lives of the respondents and to recognize significant places in the city where homelike activities happen. As a result, a dispersed model of home is revealed, which is juxtaposed to the existing, more traditional, concept. In this model, home becomes a territory, a collection, or network of (semi)public and (semi)private places connected by routes made by an individual who gives them specific values and meanings. Spatially, home is transposed from the singular space of a house/dwelling to a field of activities and actions, giving the city and its systems significant roles.