Looking at housing through a typology lens, Matthew Hutchinson discusses the issue of suitable housing for an ageing population. He claims that segregated and congregated living is unlikely to serve the upcoming older cohorts. Instead he poses the idea of “salt and peppering” suitable housing for older people in developments. There is a mention of accessible features in the research, but ideas such as having stairs to stay fit are questionable. A useful text giving an Australian context, but lacking is the concept that all new homes can be designed for ageing in place, at any age, and also provide a safe workplace for care staff and family carers. However, there is much more useful discussion in this chapter.
Hutchinson’s book chapter is titled, The Australian dream or a roof over my head. An ecological view of housing for an ageing Australian population.
The chapter is a result of a PhD research project and can be found in, Designing for Health & Wellbeing, Home, City, Society. You might be able to freely access some of the text via Google Books.
Editor’s note: Ideas such as salt and peppering in communities takes us back to the proportion argument. Without a register of accessible homes that means they will disappear into the general milieu of the marketplace. Having stairs to stay fit sounds good, but we can’t put off ageing for ever. Besides, accidents and chronic illness can happen at any age to render a person immobile either temporarily or permanently. That’s not the optimum time to think about moving.