The spaces we inhabit shape who we become. But what does that mean for the people who have no choice where they live?

Yvonne Jewkes is a professor of criminology, author, and leading expert on prison architecture.

She has spent her career studying what echoing corridors, metal doors and harsh fluorescent lighting do to the people living inside prisons — and designing spaces that restore rather than punish.

This conversation is also very personal. Yvonne spent more than a decade restoring a crumbling Regency townhouse, only for her partner to leave midway through the project. The house became tangled up with grief and the slow unravelling of the relationship itself.

We explore the strange overlap between prisons and homes: the human need for dignity, sanctuary and control over our surroundings and the instinct to create beauty even in the bleakest places.

If you enjoyed this conversation, Yvonne's book An Architecture of Hope: reimagining the prison, restoring a house, rebuilding myself is a powerful exploration into the universal need for sanctuary.

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video version

Patreon: www.patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

Instagram: @homingwithmatt

Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline

Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist, gardener and the author of The Well-Gardened Mind. She has spent her career making the case that going outside and getting your hands in the soil is one of the most powerful things we can do for our mental health.

Sue runs the Serge Hill Project, along with her husband, Tom Stuart-Smith — a garden and events space where children and groups from disadvantaged backgrounds come to learn about the profound link between gardening and wellbeing.

Her research isn’t just scientific; it’s rooted in her own family history. Her grandfather found solace in gardening after the trauma of being a prisoner of war and her mother restored a large garden to cope with the death of Sue’s father.

The episode builds on these stories to explore the positive hormonal effects of gardening on the body, the growing movement of green prescribing and how beauty can be a lifeline to those in recovery.

This is a conversation about stepping outside, tuning into the natural world and finding a gentler rhythm.

A full tour of Sue’s beautiful private gardens is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video version

Instagram: @homingwithmatt

Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline

The full catalogue of home tours is available to our Patreon community.
Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

We tend to think of home as the space inside our four walls. But for David Engwicht, home doesn't stop at the front door – it extends out into the neighbourhood beyond.

David is a master placemaker and urban designer – he explores how the design of our towns and cities can either bring us closer or push us apart. With his cowboy boots, heavy-framed glasses and 'Pat Cash' hair, he's more like a rock ’n’ roll philosopher than an urban thinker.

His philosophy was shaped by a nomadic childhood, living in 30 different homes and attending 26 schools. This experience taught him that home isn't something we find; it's something we create.

In this conversation, David talks about the social bonds modern life has eroded and the small, everyday gestures we can make to rebuild that trust.

From turning his own garden in Brisbane into a public park, to travelling the world with a folding throne in a suitcase, David’s work is a lesson in how designing for community can lead us to a deeper sense of belonging.

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video version

Instagram: @homingwithmatt

TikTok: @homing.with.matt

Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline