In the Netherlands the number of elderly (65+) is growing quickly and is likely to reach 4.5 million – 25% of the population - by 2040. In some regions near the borders of the country every third person will be older than 65 by 2040. Moreover, half of the 65+ population will consist of people aged 80 and higher. The construction sector anticipates on these developments by designing smart homes with domotica to meet the special needs of the 65+ group. Just as important as designing smart domotica is the choice of the location where this home is situated and the type of dwelling. But what are the actual preferences of the elderly? A wrong choice of the location and/or housing type may lead to a failure of the whole construction project. Think for instance about the elderly town Blauwestad that was designed to arise in Groningen in the middle of beautiful nature, but failed to attract a sufficient number of buyers.
The project we propose aims at designing two or three 65+ best neighbourhood living concepts, based on multidisciplinary research into location and housing preferences of elderly. These concepts will consist of: neighbourhood attributes most attractive for the elderly and building blocks that fit architecturally within these neighbourhoods. We will test the feasibility of the designed neighbourhood concepts in a pilot for a specific city.
Team:
Eindhoven University of Technology
Prof. dr. Theo Arentze, Dr. Ioulia Ossokina
Delft University of Technology
Prof. dr. Dick van Gameren, Dr. ir. Dirk van den Heuvel