As Pau Gasol says

‘Family is the first team of our lives, the one that lays our foundations and provides us with the values that will be fundamental for our development’.

The world basketball star Pau Gasol posted this message on his networks on 15 May on the occasion of the International Day of Family.
At the same time, on 1st Avenue in New York, at the United Nations headquarters, a hundred experts, academics and policymakers were suggesting family-oriented policies and programmes to contribute to the well-being of households and their strengthening, bearing in mind that they are ‘the cornerstone of society’, a concept that was repeated over and over again in the various panels of experts.

The outlook is not encouraging, but that should not discourage us because the future of this planet lies in the attitudes and actions of each and every one of us. The focus is on realising that the institution of the family is also suffering; different factors are leading it to instability and that by being aware and making a good diagnosis, solutions can be found.

But there are many people doing many things to address this plight. We are facing demographic, economic, geopolitical, climatic, educational crises… Ignacio Socias of the International Federation for Family Development presented the mortality and fertility figures, which are worrying. At the same time, there are many institutions, think tanks and non-profit organisations that think globally and act locally to help hundreds of families, as Irwan Nadzif bin Mahpul, researcher at the Population and Family Research Division at the National Population Family Development Board, NPFDB, Malaysia, explained.

From the Philippines to Colorado, Hong Kong, Qatar, India, South Africa and Sweden to name but a few, it is encouraging to hear about the family projects that are emerging autonomously all over the world with interesting success rates, as the President of the European Large Families Confederation, ELFAC, Regina Maroncelli Florio, told us. Or the family that accompanied Prof. Rubén Anguiano from the University of Colorado, who runs a farm in Denver to train families to care for and work the land. Or the project that the Veneto Region embarked on years ago to deal with floods.

Also interesting are the projects that Generations United is working on to exploit the advantages of intergenerational relationships and the work of research institutes or faculty departments that invest time in research. It is important to be able to measure and evaluate what is happening, as was made clear in the examples regarding migration given by Prof. Bahira Trask from University of Delaware or Ahmed Aref, Planning and Content Manager at Doha International Family Institute, Susan Walker from University of Minnesota and Martin Bujard, Deputy Director of the Federal Institute for Population Research, Germany.

If you want to read more about what Mercedes Jaureguibeitia spoke about the Ethics of Care, you can find our paper here. Moreover, if you want to see the full document that Prof. Gamal Abdelmonem presented with our proposals resulting from the Experts Meeting we previously held in Nottingham in September 2023 ‘Home/Family and Climate Change’, this is the link. 

Home and Climate Change: First View

We did it!
In May 2024, the United Nations will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the International Day of Families and present the report of our expert meeting held at Nottingham Trent University last week.

SUMMARY VIDEO

Last Thursday and Friday HRF had the great privilege of welcoming world experts on climate response to Nottingham, in partnership with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, represented by Renata Kaczmarska, and Nottingham Trent University. HRF Director Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem led the meeting, inviting contributors to bring their research and expertise to bear on how homes and families can meet the challenges of climate change.

Over the two days and six panels, a broad and deep conversation was able to take place. Professor Antonio Argandona and Dr. Ilaria Malagrino begin by establishing the ethical basis of the care of the planet – our “Common Home.” Recognising the primacy of home in the forming of human choices and behaviours richly informed the sessions which followed.

Professor Jigna Desai and Professor Rowena Hill addressed Climate Change and Public Health, from two distinctive but mutually enlightening perspectives. Professor Desai offered research from lived- experience of climate challenge in Ahmedabad, India, while Professor Hill outlined the psychological challenges and barriers to effective mitigation/adaptation strategies. For both, resilience was not just a keyword but a vital characteristic of successful engagement with current and future emergencies.

Considering Consumption and Ecological Footprint similarly brought together two very different angles. Professor Amin Al-Habaideh reported his research into home energy economies in the UK, and the behavioural household variables which affect their success. Enrico Marzano described the ambitious project of Campus Biomedico (hospital and university) in Rome, to create a series of green spaces to capture both the imagination and intentions of patients, students and the wider neighbourhood. The complementarity of small actions and bigger visions was an important strand of the meeting as a whole.

It was very good to welcome Professor Bridgette Wessels and Jennifer Challinor to present their work related to Connected Localities in the proposed Ladyfield development in Dumfries, Scotland. This project chimed with that of Campus Biomedico, in seeking ways of connecting homes with their environmental and social settings. Professor Abdelmonem continued this focus by highlighting the need for the inclusion of older people in becoming and remaining connected, both technologically and socially.

Architect and educator Professor Pablo Campos addressed Building Climate Resilience through the lens of school and university design and construction. During the discussion of this presentation led by Professor Abdelmonem, Chair of Architecture at NTU, the relevance of this “learning by living” approach was seen to have much to add to the home agenda as well as educational settings.

Both Professor Maria Jesus Alvarez and Maria Jose Monferrer brought their research and experience of the Remote Economy and Home-Based Work to their presentations. While Professor Alvarez evaluated the benefits and costs (personal and environmental) of teleworking, Maria Jose Monferrer widened the focus to recommend universal services to allow an equitable new world of work.

This is just a glimpse of all that was offered in Nottingham. Over the next few weeks we shall look forward to sharing in more depth both the research discussed and the policy recommendations for suggested incorporation into UN-DESA’s Thirtieth Anniversary of Year of the Family (IYF+30). In the meantime, HRF extends thanks to Dr Stephen Davies and Professor Rosa Lastra and all the panel chairs, to Professor Cillian Ryan, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) of NTU and especial thanks to Professor Abdelmonem.

Emergency Response

This summer we have seen dramatic scenes of emergency situations across the world. From unprecedented numbers of forest fires to unheard-of floods in Madrid and most recently, and tragically, the earthquake in Morocco.

The causes of these emergencies vary; though fires and floods are broadly associated with climate change, earthquakes remain a “built-in” and age-old risk.

From the perspective of those suffering in these disasters and their aftermath, the causes are a less immediate concern than simple survival. It tends to be other, external agencies who pronounce on cause and effect .

The evidence of this summer’s emergencies reminds us visibly and viscerally that it is always individual families who have to face first and most harshly the results of such emergencies. The headlines shout at us the numbers of casualties and the number of homes destroyed. The world’s media is quick to report on emergencies at their most dramatic and newsworthy stages, but what about after the cameras go away  – and before they come?

Later this month HRF, together with the United Nations Department of Economic Affairs,  led by Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem at Nottingham Trent University takes the home and family perspective on climate emergencies. By asking how families can be resilient in the face of this global challenge, experts will consider the wider role of home in providing a secure base to deal with the demands of climate change and specific, local responses.

These are not easy conversations nor do they have easy solutions. Perhaps an analogy might be imagining our own home with the problem of rising damp. No one is going to send a film crew in or Red Cross parcels, but from our own perspective it is an emergency. If we have a child with asthma or an older relative with breathing difficulties then the situation is a genuine risk. What if the cause of the problem is the rising water table in our area, or the developer’s decision to build on unsuitable land? We could just wring our hands and try to move – or we can be more proactive and take action to deal with the immediate issue and work together with our neighbours to seek more permanent solutions.

This is by no means a perfect analogy as the emergencies many people face are far more directly life-threatening, but it is true that moving from a passive to an active response will be the way forward for families and households in the years ahead.

Looking at the papers in preparation for Home/Family and Climate Change 28 -29 September, this is a key theme. Throughout time homes have not just been the places most vulnerable to emergencies but also the ones best able to withstand them. Our thoughts are with homes and families in Morocco this week, and in the days and weeks to come when our attention has moved on they will demonstrate that resilience is at the heart of home.

In conversation with…

As you know, in September we will be holding an Experts Meeting to find out how households can become allies in the face of climate emergencies. HRF, NTU and UN-DESA will be the organisers. Prof. Gamal Abdelmonem is leading this project and we wish to thank him for all that he is doing to raise awareness of this issue. We have spoken to him and here is the interview.

On 28-29 September an Expert Meeting will take place at Nottingham Conference Centre to address the relationship between households and Climate Change. How did the idea come about?

Climate Change has always been a long-term and standing research agenda for both the Home Renaissance Foundation and my Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University. We all have a duty and commitment to address Climate Change through our research work, studies, and analysis of current attitudes towards the environment. With our focus on the home and family, the key victims of the impact of Climate Change worldwide, we have been working on the best way to develop a collective research effort to address how the home as a key societal, cultural and economic unit, can contribute to this global challenge.

Through my participation at the United Nation’s Family Focused Regional Meeting in Cairo in June 2022, I had an interesting conversation with Ms Renata Kaczmarska, where we discussed joining our efforts in a pioneering event that brings our experts and scholars on the family and home to address the challenges of Climate Change, in the build-up for the UN-DESA Year of Climate Change in 2024. It was a clear meeting of mindsets and research ambitions to work together. At this point the idea was born and later materialised with the support of HRF Chair, Mr Bryan Sanderson and the Directors at its Directors’ Meeting earlier this year.

What is expected from such a meeting and what perspectives will be addressed?

Over the past few months, we conducted our research to highlight the key strands and themes where the interest and activities of families and home can contribute to combating Climate Change. Despite its broad and wide coverage that can cover every aspect of our lives, we highlighted five key aspects and research strands that can offer strong research agenda and practical and innovative solutions to how family and home can make substantial efforts to address it. We then identified and approached international experts with a track record of research in this area to contribute to the collective discussion and the meeting specialist expert report.

Through rigorous research review and analysis, all contributors will produce specialised papers to address one of the themes, which will be peer-reviewed at three levels to contribute to the Expert meeting seminar at a 2-day event in Nottingham, as you highlighted. Following the debates and discussion during the meeting, a collective and edited expert report will be issued and will be part of the UN-DESA Scholarly and scientifically validated approach to how family/home can contribute to combating Climate Change in simple, practical and innovative ways. We will bring experts who cover wider geographic and research fields, but all focus on the home as a central focus of this report.

There are geographical areas that are already experiencing climate emergencies, for example as a result of drought, how can these households be helped?

Climate Change is a global challenge and a catastrophe that is waiting to happen. We all experience it in different ways, and some regions of the world experience it more promptly than others. So, I strongly believe, and research has confirmed that we all have to collectively act.  Certainly, drought in Africa, wildfires in the US and Australia, glacier meltdowns, and tsunamis are amongst the most recent events to alert us that no one is safe. But, when it comes to those in most urgent need for help, either families who are dying out of drought, or out of cold and limited supplies in the refugee camps following storms and earthquakes in Pakistan and Syria, we can do a lot to help.

Collectively, we need to contribute by either direct financial support through charities that look at families’ and children’s needs in those extreme situations, but also provide infrastructure support to either develop new modes of water resources or by building shelters to help families in those regions. These are very basic and minimal needs to help those vulnerable families and children to survive such devastating situations. But my belief is we need to do much more, through economic support, building infrastructure as future investment in new renewable resources in those regions to operate and become safe places for communities and families. We need to treat those geographical regions as if they are our own homes and families. If we want to combat global warming, we can do it now in those regions and help those vulnerable families. If we fail to stop it now, we will not survive in Western countries.

Can households and families be allies in this ecological transition? What steps should be taken?

Yes, absolutely. Families are the basic and most powerful societal and economic unit as I mentioned before. If you have any doubt, look at how we managed to beat COVID-19 Pandemic: only through family and home-based response, where the home and family have become a place of work, education, social care, health and trade. In fact, if we do not focus our efforts and attention to the role families and homes play in our ecological transition towards a carbon-neutral planet, we are doomed. Over decades, we came to learn that if changing policies and consumption models do not change the attitudes of households and families in their daily lives, little or perhaps no change will ever be achieved. In this meeting and generally at HRF and at NTU, we attempt to reverse this perception, and place home and family not as contributors, but in fact champions of economical and carbon-neutral life. If families are aware of the danger to their wellbeing, the future of their families, young people and children, they have the capacity, well and power to change our way of living, modes of consumption, and support government or international policies and action plans to combat climate change.

To give you an example, only when the energy prices went up in the UK and Europe, did attitudes towards energy consumption and fossil fuel change, and during COVID-19 lockdowns, when we worked from home, our cities became largely carbon neutral overnight. This is not to suggest making life difficult and unaffordable. It is just telling us how powerful the change we can achieve if we put our focus on the family and their daily living and livelihoods.

We have to wait for experts’ research, but how can academic meetings of this kind help society?

Of course. Academic research that has a limited impact on our way of life, becomes very short-sighted. Our research and academic meetings are always geared to understand our current behaviour, attitudes, and cultural and economic attitudes and how to change and improve them. Our meeting will fall into this category of impact-led and practical research. Our interest is in bringing together expert and curious minds to explore what we do wrong and how to better learn from best practices, scientific evidence and successful experiences. This way, sharing knowledge and educating families across the globe is our shared mission as scientists and researchers. I can refer here too to the role of science to help us get through COVID-19. If we managed to beat COVID-19 through science and innovation, we can do the same regarding Climate Change. Research is very much pivotal in our effort and our success. I hope our meeting contributes a little to that collective effort. The report we will produce should give examples of best practices and innovation to be spread and used as a reference globally.

Home and Climate Emergencies

As you will know, 15th of May is the International Day of the Family. We will join ONLINE with the United Nations, who this year will analyse in different round tables the demographic changes that society is experiencing.

For next year’s edition, HRF has an exciting challenge: to present to the UN a report based on research and expert dialogue on Homes and Climate Emergencies.

The home has consistently been the most resilient and adaptable social and economic unit where fundamental challenges or changes to our world have been met, endorsed or resisted. From responding to natural disasters, divisions, conflicts or instability, family was the base from which resilience or rebuilding emerged and evolved. More recently, when COVID-19 global pandemic led to international lockdowns across the planet and social and economic systems came to a halt, our societies withdrew to the safe territory of the home and the social support of the family. As the economy, healthcare and social care moved from public systems to the local and community support system, the family was revealed again as the true centre of resilience and rebuilding.

In parallel, mobility and travel were curtailed, our carbon footprint was substantially reduced, our cities became greener, we turned to local suppliers, produce and social support. In the face of a global emergency, the home and family instantly and instinctively emerged as the resilient unit on which our society can rely and through which we can adapt and reset our systems and global operations. Lessons were learnt, adaptability and flexibility were tested, and it worked.

Why, therefore, should we look elsewhere to build resilience and response mechanisms to combat Climate Change?

HRF together with Nottingham Trent University and United Nations will be holding an Expert Meeting in September to explore the role home and family play in the transition towards a sustainable and carbon-neutral planet, where our carbon footprint is neutralised by offsetting our consumption with the production of clean energy and sustainable lifestyle.

Building on the lessons learnt during COVID-19 Pandemic, and the global response to a universal emergency, this meeting will bring experts, scholars and scientists from diverse disciplines, professions, and research backgrounds to debate the challenges and opportunities facing the home as societal institutions to achieve that goal. The meeting will try to respond to a key question, ‘how can we engage more effectively with the home and family as a resilient unit to help societies and economies combat Climate Change?’

HELLO 2023!

We welcome 2023 with new content, new research, an Experts Meeting in September and presentations of our latest book in several countries. Looking back, we have realised that HRF is 17 years old this year. Not an insignificant number. Almost two decades dedicated to research and analysis of the impact of public policies on our homes.

For this reason, and because we do not want anything to be left out, we are going to offer you, on the one hand, the data and conclusions of our own research that we are carrying out with the ICWF/IESE and, on the other hand, we are going to release all the literature that we have been creating since 2006 with the collaboration of our experts.

The blog thus takes on a new dimension as a showcase for our academics with one article per month. We hope that you find it useful and enriching to read all these articles that we will prepare with enthusiasm from the work of Home Renaissance Foundation.

The HRF family is growing both in terms of experts and readers. More and more of you are academics who have dedicated your time to research the reality of homes from the perspective of your own disciplines. With your knowledge, you help us to put the home back in its place at the centre of public debate. That is why we also want you to share your concerns with us.

On the other hand, there are readers who are homemakers, who we address every week through our blog, the web or social networks to advance results, analysis, conclusions, recommendations and who, as you tell us in your emails, look forward to our reflections every Thursday. We also count on you to send us your concerns, because all proposals are welcome in order to defend and care for homes.

Until now, we were the ones who set the themes for our Experts Meetings, we were the ones who decided what approach to give to our Conferences according to the needs that were arising in society and also anticipating possible events, always trying to cover the home in its 360 degrees. But, lately, you are also knocking on our door to request specific research, to call on experts who have studied the home and ask them to carry out specific analyses.

For this reason, this year we will be holding gatherings and meetings to obtain reports focusing on issues that we have agreed with both the United Nations and Nottingham Trent University. We will keep you updated through our blog, website and social media. If you are specifically interested in any of these, please write to us for more details.

Let homes come first in 2023!

Newsletter June 2022

Dear friends,

As we reach the midpoint of the year and summer holidays approach for many of us, we are grateful that 2022 has allowed a long-awaited return to more normal days. For HRF this has meant that we have been able to meet in person once more, both with our own team and our research partners – we have been glad of virtual communication but it is very good to be in the same room again.

Since the Easter Newsletter, I would like to highlight our Communication Report: The Impact of Technology in the Home.  Our work, both through our 2021 publication  The Home in the Digital Age and this recent report, has allowed reflection on how the fundamental values of the home are being challenged by technology. The testimonies of experts, academics, engineers, teachers and parents have helped us to shed real light on the incorporation of technologies into our lives.

Related to this, earlier this month HRF participated in an event hosted by the Family Watch Foundation in which we were asked to share the main ideas of our work in this area. It is a great joy to serve as an inspiration to other associations with concern for the life of the home.

Also in June, HRF was represented at the UN Experts Meeting in Cairo by our patron Professor Mohammed Gamal Abdelmonem,  Chair in Architecture at the School of Architecture, Design and Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University. The meeting in preparation for the 30th anniversary of the International Day of Families was an opportunity to share our vision and to connect with experts from the Middle East and North Africa. It is important for HRF to have a seat at the table where decisions affecting homes and families across the world are made. I would like to thank Professor Abdelmonem for his generous contribution in terms of time and expertise on behalf of HRF.

Our activities continue; our new publication Happiness and Domestic Life will be published by Routledge this autumn (available for pre-order on July 29, 2022, item will ship after August 19, 2022) and our next Experts Meeting The Home and Displaced People will take place in Washington DC this September. More information to follow soon.

As summer begins I hope that you will be able to find time for rest and for family, and to also take time to enjoy and treasure all that our homes mean to us.

Bryan K. Sanderson