RENOVATIONS TO ENABLE AGING IN PLACE
6 lectures • 3h 30m total length
The Scope of the Problem (41:20)
Outside of the Home (31:30)
Public Spaces in Individual Homes (30:59)
Private Spaces in Individual Homes (36:47)
Overall Design Decisions and Solutions (36:58)
Additional Materials and Resources (33:01)
UDEMY CLASSES ON TOTAL MATERIAL (CLICK HERE)
Our world faces a massive problem, which will only grow as time passes. Fewer and fewer people will live out their lives with extended families, how aging has historically occurred. Modern life has created numbers of elderly people with little to no support systems to receive social, physical, psychological, and medical care needed to overcome issues with aging. We will look at how this came about. But there are no broad solutions to the societal issues involved. In physical environments, solutions are available and a bit more clear.
Issues with growing older range from societal to communal to personal. In millions of homes, aging occupants face steps needed to exit, which they lack confidence or strength to negotiate. They also face ever-changing technology with which they have never felt comfortable. Bathrooms are now dangerous places. Second floors and basements are no longer accessible They sometimes grope their way through confusion, to accomplish daily tasks once mundane and second nature.
Aging-in-place is the desire to stay in a familiar home for as long as possible. It is the “ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.” The easiest solution is creating or adapting living facilities to changed physical capabilities, to enable seniors to stay home as they age.
Some problems facing our elders cannot be helped. But many can, with just equipment and hardware, a few renovations, or modest changes in routine. This writing is to offer suggestions on how to mitigate these issues.