Place, Mobility and Migration

Abstract

In this chapter, we consider the role that residential history and locality play in the embeddedness of men and women living alone in relationship to people and place. Urban and rural localities provide different opportunities to enjoy resources such as housing, employment and social spaces. How do these differences modify the experience of living alone? Some academic discussion of solo-living has particularly associated this trend with enhanced mobility and urban living (Buzar et al., 2005; Hall and Ogden, 2003). As was demonstrated in discussion of Japan (Chapter 2), solo-living has increased in both heavily and sparsely populated areas in some countries. The United Kingdom also demonstrates that solo-living can be a significant rural as well as an urban phenomenon.¹ We develop the discussion introduced in the previous chapter on the social connectedness of men and women living alone to consider sense of attachment to a particular locality, and how this might differ by factors such as gender and class. To what extent do people living alone see themselves as ‘free agents’, liberated from conventional ties to people or place? How far do they see living alone as significant in shaping a sense of belonging?