Dwelling and Mobility in Postphenomenological Perspective

Martin Heidegger wrote that in Building, Dwelling, Thinking (1951) that in order to think we have to dwell, which means we have to have some sort of place where we feel at home and at ease in order to confront the world mentally and reflectively. Our physical body has to have a place and a site where it can live within familiar frameworks where we have arranged the various elements in a way that makes it meaningful and appropriate in relation to our physical being. Contemporary globalized reality is characterized by a request of flexibility and mobility where the individual is envisioned as a puzzle-piece that can be moved and transformed in relation to which tasks are required. The late-capitalist commodification of humans, which has been the result of globalization, has deteriorated the intimate relationship in between humans and place, hence in a Heideggerian perspective preventing us from thinking and reflecting.The question is whether Post-phenomenology has potentials for re-installing the sense of place in relation to bodies, and furthermore can contribute on a tool level to appropriate solutions for design.The paper will present state of art research on mobility in a globalized world and relate this to major conceptualizations within Post-phenomenology: material hermeneutics, mediating technology and multi-stability. What does these concepts mean in relation to dwelling? Finally, is Heidegger right when he claims that in order to think we have to dwell?Keywords: Mobility, Dwelling, Post-phenomenology, architecture