Chapter 15 - The Changing Residential Environments of Older People

Abstract

A vast literature on the appropriateness of residential environments shows that except for their disdain for institutional settings, older people are open to aging in place in many different residential settings. A large and multidisciplinary literature is now focusing on the aging-in-place capabilities and downsides of older people's residential environments, the potential of different residential transformations, the feasibility of environmental interventions, and the difficulties of achieving residential normalcy in places that are responsible for the care of more vulnerable older people. All these studies agree that judgments concerning older persons aging successfully are increasingly less credible if they do not consider the role played by their place of residence. They also share the belief that their findings can contribute to positive changes. They assume that the residential settings of older people can be changed or modified to achieve better outcomes. This chapter focuses on three broad categories of residential environments: dwelling or home environments; neighborhood and community environments; and the planned residential care environments of assisted-living facilities.