People want to stay put as they age. That means housing design is critical in supporting this desire, as well as ageing-in-place policies. A study from New Zealand looked at issues of appropriate housing for older people, and how people and communities can develop resilience to adverse natural events. The findings relate to ageing societies across the globe and within the context of changing environmental conditions. The decision tools that researchers devised from this participatory research are useful for older people and for architects and other designers.
The title of the article by Bev James and Kay Saville-Smith is “Designing housing decision-support tools for resilient older people“. There are several useful references at the end of this excellent study.
From the abstract
It’s critical that older people continue to live and participate in their communities. ‘Ageing in place’, rather than in residential care, is desired by older people themselves and promoted as policy in many countries. Its success, both as policy and practice, depends on housing.
House performance, resilience, functionality and adaptability are all essential to maintaining independence. Three New Zealand research programmes have worked with older people to investigate issues around housing. They include ageing in place, and resilience to adverse natural events.
Using participatory research techniques, we developed evidence-based decision-support tools to help older people maintain independence. These tools have been co-designed and widely tested with older people and others. The tools help older people identify priorities and assess diverse factors determining thermal performance. They also help improve decisions around: repairs and maintenance assessment and solutions; dwelling and location choices and housing options.
This work demonstrates how research outputs can be used to facilitate older people’s housing choices while also giving architects and designers guides for meeting older people’s housing needs.
Image by David Mark.