Els De Vos, Hoe zouden we graag wonen? Woonvertogen in Vlaanderen tijdens de jaren zestig en zeventig

Abstract

Discourses and practices about the home in the 1960’s-1970’s in Flanders During the 1960s and 1970s the modernisation of the society in Flanders gained momentum. Technical and cultural renewal, changing ideas about gender and family life, the loss of traditions, the blurring of the classes, the emergence of a consumption culture and the democratisation of the welfare, made the question “How would we like to live” for many people very real. Dwelling and living didn’t seem to be so straightforward anymore. Several organisations guided the public in how to build a house and how to create a home. This book shows – by means of a ‘visit’ - how domesticity and modernisation took shape in the home of diverse groups of inhabitants. Dwelling is regarded as the result of a long process of interactions among government bodies, architects, socio-cultural movements, popular discourses, economic developments, technical possibilities and individual households. A ‘vertical’ dimension is discerned in this process, consisting of an interplay between, on the one hand, government institutions and social organizations, and, on the other hand, home occupants (whether or not as members of such organizations). A ‘horizontal’ interplay between various sub-groups in society is distinguished as well. All these groups have a view of living – colored by their own standards and values – that either dismisses or takes account of the practice of living of other groups. On the basis of written sources of the actors as well as fieldwork (visits to homes, 57 retrospective interviews and spatial analysis of residential building), this research tries to formulate an answer on the following questions. Was living a top down process or rather a bottom-up process? Or were the horizontal interplays the most important ones? And how did the intermediary organisations functioned in this field of tensions? This PhD opens with the most discussed room of the home, the kitchen, and concludes with the room that all organisations practically ignored, the garage. In addition, two specific home models are studied: a model put forward by an organisation and a more popular model that near the end of the 1960s emerged in large numbers throughout Flanders. What are the differences between these two models? And what can they tell us about the impact of the intermediary organisations?