The Logic of Multi‐Local Living Arrangements: Methodological Challenges And the Potential of Qualitative Approaches

Abstract

Although historically by no means an unknown phenomenon, the social and cultural sciences are rediscovering multi-local living and residence. Research on residential multi-locality focuses especially on practices of multiple local daily life management, appropriations and their contextualisation, attachment, exchange, mobility and interactions between social relationships at different locations. Aside from quantitative approaches, research attempts to open up empirically observable dynamics and new qualities of multi-local life at a deep level. The consideration of the development of multi-local living arrangements in contemporary societies raises conceptual as well as methodological questions, and demands new and revised methods for investigating the phenomenon. After a phenomenological outline of residential multi-locality, the paper formulates requirements to be met by research designs, then outlines, with reference to a study of multi-locality of the family, how the subject may be treated in the framework of qualitative methodology and indicates potentials and limitations of the suggested approach.

Residential Multi‐Locality Studies – The Added Value for Research on Families and Second Homes

“…Fourth, the chosen methods should be suitable for the analysis of the relationships between subjects, objects, infrastructures, ideas, and practices, all of which together enact multi‐local living. Following Merriman () and Schier et al (), this implies that pursuing a plurality of methodological approaches and working across disciplinary boundaries are indispensable.…”

A Residential Perspective on Multi‐Locality: Editorial

“…For example, research on children in postseparation families suggests that 'doing family' for children entails a great amount of copresence in order to support the taken-forgranted and, as it were, casual structure of the lifeworld of children. Modern means of mass communication may help to sustain personal relationships, but they are by no means sufficient for maintaining these relationships (Davies 2011;Schier 2015b).…”

“…In housing, household and family research, the objects of research are mostly regarded as something static or unilocal (Breckner 2002;Blunt & Dowling 2006;Rolshoven 2007;Weiske et al 2009;Hilti 2013;Schier 2015b). Multi-local living, however, expresses that housing has to be conceived of as a practice of movement and both households and families have to be conceptualised multi-locally.…”

“…For a long time, family research was dominated by household-centred concepts of family and by the notion of one permanent residence per family. In more recent family research, however, focus has been increasingly put on the structural changes of families (Levy et al 2002;Widmer 2010;Schier 2015b). Increasing relevance is attributed to approaches that conceive family as a multi-local, cross-household social network (Bien & Marbach 1991;Lenz 2005;Widmer et al 2008) and draw attention to doing family under these changed conditions (Schier & Jurczyk 2007;Morgan 2011).…”

“…Residential multi-locality studies can tie in with a whole range of findings of second homes research, especially with those dealing with the growing diversity of second homes and their relationship with transport-related and spatial issues. On the other hand, crucial gaps can be identified with regard to the following issues: capturing diverse types of multi-local residents, a problem which is neglected by second homes research due to the limitations in definition; the disproportion between definitions (second home or holiday home) and lifeworld practice; and the insufficient consideration of the overall context of housing and mobility , 2015b.…”