Abstract
A variety of innovative pilot projects are being implemented to improve the life-course resilience of existing and newly built home environments. We refer to these projects as “socio-technical experiments” that embody different kinds of promising futures and provide direction to current developments in the emerging domain of age-friendly homes. To take stock of this diversity within Europe; this paper provides an overview of 53 ongoing socio-technical experiments that are being conducted in the Netherlands, France, Ireland and Poland. We find that, besides the variation between European countries, there is a more important type variation in terms of the character of the experiments themselves and the differences in development direction that they propose. Our findings suggest that most of the innovations tested in these experiments are not primarily material or technical but primarily social or conceptual in character (i.e., new organizational modes or everyday practices that re-arrange social relations or new housing concepts that bridge the divide between ageing in place individually and a nursing home). This variety of innovations tested in the experiments can be categorized into seven distinct innovation pathways: (1) Showcasing Technology, (2) Innovation Ecosystem, (3) Sheltered Elite, (4) Specific Community, (5) Conscious Retrofitting, (6) Home Sharing and (7) Retrovation Challenge.
Highlights
Experimenting with Age-Friendly HomesThe ever-increasing life expectancy of Europe’s urban population is generally considered to be “a great achievement of modern society” [1], p. 2472, and “the culmination of successful human development” [2], p. 733
Patterns here refer to recurring ideas about certain innovations and widely shared reflections that can be found in the stakeholders’ testimonies, and innovation pathways refer to distinct innovation categories into which most of the experiments in each of the four countries can be said to fit
It is within our scope to reflect upon the kinds of future directions that it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide an account of how the innovation that is being constructed as numerous experiments are being carried out
Summary
Experimenting with Age-Friendly HomesThe ever-increasing life expectancy of Europe’s urban population is generally considered to be “a great achievement of modern society” [1], p. 2472, and “the culmination of successful human development” [2], p. 733. One key challenge is that most present-day home environments are not adapted to permit to older adults to age in place. The home is a site where digital technologies and other novelties are being introduced at an increasing pace and where a wide gamut of innovations meet the muddled realities of the everyday lives of older adults [4]. It is crucial to ensure that our homes are suitable and adaptable to our needs and preferences as we age and that they are conducive to integration of promising innovations. In our view, this should be a key part of the response to the demographics of ageing in European cities
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