What does it mean to “live” somewhere? What wishes are bound up with residential living, and where and how can these be realized? How much “individuality” does a resident need, whether alone, with a partner, as a family, as a community, spanning generations, or alternatively? How can living together be arranged? Which activities that originally took place in the home are now carried out elsewhere, and who do we share these relocated residential functions with?

Diversification and flexibility in people’s residential worlds are increasingly blurring the notion of “normal” residential requirements. The question of whether and how current developments affect our ways of living is explored by students and teachers of the Masters course in Urban Design at HCU Hamburg, together with contributors from research and practice. They all provide an insight into residential practices, always seeing the built environment in relation to the behavior and actions of users, studying the activities, causal networks and conditions that make up everyday urban life.