Launched in 2026, the Home Hub uses interdisciplinary approaches to better understand the home as an idea, a feeling and a material space that is lived in and that structures social interaction. 

The home forms the smallest unit in the urban tapestry and is the place where people literally ‘come home to’. It determines much of their everyday lives. At the same time, houses and homes have become symbols of growing inequalities and social tensions, for example, through the competitive housing market, increasing segregation and gentrification, the redevelopment of historic homes into open-plan apartments for young professionals, and the traces of colonial heritage in the midst of modern cities.  

Members of the Home Hub regularly come across these issues in our research.  Our work is driven by contemporary issues such as sustainability, inequality and inclusivity. Topics of interest include urban regeneration, cultural heritage, spatial justice, citizenship, community, gender and migration. We are based in three different departments across the Humanities and Social Sciences, and our expertise ranges from Medieval Europe to contemporary southern Africa. We use methodologies such as 3D digital reconstruction, oral histories, archival research and modelling.