CLIMATE & SHELTER
Is your culture stationary or nomadic?
How long are the seasons and how does this affect how much indoor/outdoor living time they may have?
What percentage of their "living space" is outdoors?
What elements are they protecting themselves from?
What materials are available in the immediate area to make a rudimentary shelter out of?
Which are imported or manufactured elsewhere? How are they transported to the building site?
What ingenious architectural quirks have they invented to deal with their particular climate challenges?
Is their place of business separate from their home?
Is their place of worship separate from their home?
How close are homes to each other, to work,
to schools, to shopping centers, etc.? How is the community organized? Is it?
Are there separate rooms for separate purposes?
What furniture is considered vital and which is frivolous?
Is there indoor plumbing?
Is bathing private or communal?
What is the level of privacy between family members?
Between visitors and the family?
Between strangers on the street and the family?
Do people visit each other's dwellings?
Can people lose their homes? What happens to the unhoused?
How does a new family (newlyweds, the homeless, refugees and immigrants, etc.) get a house?
Is there special space set aside for entertainment, and is it in the house, or is it communal (pubs, assembly halls, etc.)
YOU ARE READING
Worldbuilding Through Culture
General FictionWorldbuilding is more than just maps! Culture is the WHY we think, believe, and behave the way we do. Creating a believable secondary world, with consistent internal logic, idioms, taboos, and politics can be tricky. Luckily, I'm here to help you de...
