When We Live Alone
A film conceived by Giovanna Borasi and directed by Daniel Schwartz
A documentary film conceived by Giovanna Borasi and directed by Daniel Schwartz
When We Live Alone explores the ways in which we live alone together in contemporary cities. The unprecedented rise of urban dwellers living on their own challenges normative ideas about home and raises questions about how this change in social structure and lifestyle affects cities as a whole. While the causes of living alone seem apparent—shifting social values, the flexibilization of labour, new demographics, increased wealth, and changes to normative gender roles—the effects on society and its spatial configurations remain uncertain. Through a series of interconnected vignettes, the film interrogates this new urban condition, offering glimpses into the lives of individuals inhabiting singleton homes and the extended domestic sphere. Urban dwellers living on their own, architect Takahashi Ippei, and sociologist Yoshikazu Nango navigate the audience through a series of sole spaces in Tokyo. If living alone is our new reality, the film asks what does it look like?
This film was made available in its entirety on 19 April 2022. See here for more information about this project.
When We Live Alone is the second of a three-part documentary series produced by the CCA that examines the ways in which changing societies, new economic pressures, and increasing population density are affecting the homes of various communities. It is preceded by What It Takes to Make a Home.
