Attachment to houses

My in-laws are getting ready to sell their house and move into an apartment. It is a big step, they have lived in their current house for 30 years and before that lived in another house for about 20 years. One of their sons lives in that house now. My father lives in the house next door to where his parents moved with him and his sister when he was 16. So, he has lived on those 5 acres for 64 years.

I've been in the house I live in now for 14 years, the longest residence since my childhood. I feel some attachment to this house, it is where we have raised our sons, but I don't feel like it will be hard to move. My husband and I talk about downsizing once the boys are through college. I think that is a good idea, to move to a new place while we can enjoy the freedom of a smaller house and more manageable yard (although I don't know if I can convince my husband that a smaller yard is a good idea.)

What is it about space that we become tied to? Given my recent thoughts about the importance of office space, I guess it is only natural that I now am thinking about living space. Is it the memories that are attached to the space? Do we need that tangible presence to preserve those feelings? Is it just inertia and habit? Do we just resist change in general?

I know in other cultures and in other times of history less (and maybe more) importance was attached to spaces and houses. They were, or are, utilitarian necessities. Still, I think most people have memories of particular houses that hold some significance to them. Recently a young woman showed up at the end of our driveway. This was the house she lived in when she was a child and she was curious about what it looked like now. My husband invited her in and showed her around. She pointed out her old bedroom, where things had been in her childhood, how much the trees had grown, etc.

As a sociologist, then, what are we to make of space? When I teach family sociology I talk a little about how changes in housing design both reflected and facilitated family change. Having separate rooms reinforced and facilitated the desire for privacy. That privacy changed family dynamics and the expectations of family members. Comparing houses now to the era in which I grew up, the idea of shared bedrooms for children is outdated--every child has his or her own room. When I was growing up, families with 4 or 5 children regularly lived in 3-4 bedroom houses.