The authors explore the journeys through life for people around the world, and hope that this approach will be useful for professionals and students in New Zealand, from where they are writing, as well as for people in other countries who may be interested in following and analysing the same perspective on human development. The authors achieve this by centring their studies in New Zealand, while at the same time acknowledging that development occurs in a global setting. In this book, international concerns about human development are considered while also holding on to the importance of lived worlds of our specific locations. Considering place does not mean that this title pays attention to only one location. Family, place and culture are considered as complex and movable aspects of human identity. This book embraces contemporary questions that have developmental implications; and psychology, sociology, history, anthropology, cultural studies, biology, demography and economic development studies are considered in order to create a picture of the way humans live today in a complex, constantly changing world.