This chapter argues that concern with the meaning of a house and home does not stop at the front door. The house derives meaning from its setting as well as its own characteristics. Feelings about the house will be influenced by the perceived physical and social environment outside the front door. Also, the social relationships of family, which are primarily associated with home, are also played out in other settings. Family relationships may span a number of homes and considerable distances, and the location of a house will influence the frequency and ease of contact. At the same time, social relationships are formed with friends and neighbours; they may take place in a number of settings including the home and its immediate environs as well as in accessible leisure facilities such as pubs or restaurants. People need to leave the home to service their lives within it, whether to go to school, work or the supermarket. Access to these facilities will be influenced by the location of the house. Also, lifestyles may influence the location of housing that is sought. The estate agents’ adage that the three most important factors in selling a house are ‘location, location and location’ shows that its importance is widely recognised.

As in Chapter Five, the starting point is the physical environment, in this case of the neighbourhood. Therefore, the chapter begins with a consideration of the design of public spaces between houses, including the street layout. It is argued that physical design carries implicit meanings at different levels from the political to the individual. These meanings often symbolise particular views of lifestyle. Examples are given of ‘homes fit for heroes’ and modernist high-rise housing, introduced in Chapter Five. In the latter case it is argued that the designs carried different meanings for the architects and those living in them, which in some cases led to unpopularity. Underlying many design discourses is a belief that physical design has a direct and predictable impact on behaviour; a current example of this is concern with ‘designing out crime’. It is argued that this is a very simplistic proposition, which assumes a universality of meaning that may not always exist.