HLP FOCAL POINTS + VALUE STATEMENTS
a flexible framework to be broadly interpreted by our collaborators and participants
Also check out People + Property and our related reading list, which are both organized around these ideas and influences.
HISTORY The House Life Project cannot separate our sense of place from its history and our own history. History both informs and impacts the areas it’s rooted in, and the key to better knowing and working within a place is through the lens of its story. examples: neighborhood development, contested narratives, industry and workforce
SPACE The House Life Project intentionally occupies homes considered uninhabitable and reframe them as a creative space to contest the stigma of such properties and the neighborhoods that contain them. We build community on the front porch, an iconic space that blurs the line between public and private. examples: public and private, architectural forms, urban planning, the domestic realm
WELLNESS The House Life Project considers issues of food access, environmental health, housing conditions and personal support networks. We explore the ways that individual resourcefulness and generosity contribute to collective wellness, and the forces that affect these informal support networks. examples: food, health, environment, relationships
EQUITY We know that access to affordable housing and other essential resources is not equitable due to policymaking and systemic causes. The House Life Project is a safe place to explore layered and faceted issues of inequality within and beyond housing. examples: affordable housing, wealth accumulation, cultural aesthetics
MOVEMENT The House Life Project is a purposefully transitional project for practical and political reasons. We move when a house sells to a developer or homesteader, which helps us explore the means by which residents move to, from, and through places. examples: travel, displacement, mapping, transportation
CHANGE We know that places change, some slowly over long periods of time and some more rapidly. The House Life Project, a site of change itself, is dedicated to critically examining the effects of past and present policies, financial investment, and neighbor to neighbor relationships within a community. examples: dis/investment, home repair and building, gentrification