15 - Housing culture

Summary

On encountering the term 'housing codes', most people are likely to think of building regulations: what kind of dwellings can be built where, what provisions need to be made for gas, electricity and sewerage, etc. Such regulations certainly do exist - and constitute one of the major ways in which public policy impinges on the 'private' realm of the home - but I use 'housing codes' in another sense here, to mean the prevailing assumptions we have about houses and the standards we have internalised for evaluating the exteriors and interiors of the houses we encounter. Just as we are influenced by 'dress codes' and 'dietary codes', so too are we influenced by 'housing codes', and these codes are both socially constructed and variable over time. A remotely controlled iron gate leading to a garden and off-street parking or a front door just a few paces from the street; a spacious entry hall or immediate access to the living room; a separate dining room or an eat-in kitchen: these and other design features convey messages not only about the type of house we are visiting, but also about the lifestyle of its occupants. The 'novel' layout of rooms - bedrooms on the ground floor and social space on the floor above, for example - may suit the site or the occupants, but it will strike most visitors as a reversal of the prevailing code for the location of 'private' and 'public' spaces.