Professional Documents
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For:
Steed Hammond Paul
Trends
Key Themes
Opportunities
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http://www.aarp.org
-sustainable lifestyles
-financial security
Boomers change everything they touch (and have since Gerber Baby
Food in the 1950s): They’re hunting for new products, services,
solutions, and experiences.
Sense of Community
Recreation
Idealism: Places that innovate toward social justice and public trust
Places supporting ecological and social sustainability
1. Fear of the Financial Future: This affects many, and undermines key
needs, such as community, self-worth, health and wellness, and
passion. It is not a fear “dying too soon” and leaving loved ones
left behind without resources (the market for life insurance). It is
now about fear of “living too long” beyond our resources.
- Permanent Urbanization.
- to Starbucks.
Many market needs, including this one, have not yet been
approached in this way.
The “Scrutiny Culture”: they will expose problems in blogs and boycotts,
so corporate ethics is now a must.
The “Life Legacy Audit”: boomers reflecting on what will they leave behind
- they want to be plugged into issues and causes
- they want to make the world better, and help solve problems
- they seek community and volunteer work, civic engagement
- high-profile examples: Clinton, Buffett, Gates, Gore
Key features:
(integrated, well-designed, simplified, proven)
Thought process:
(identify the “problem” more broadly, in a
“holistic experience” context)
Joseph Coughlin,
MIT AgeLab
They want a lot of choices. But they’re busy and demanding, and so
want “editing” or guidance in approaching a product choice.
In segmentation of the data, age is not the primary factor, instead it’s
the trigger Key Life Events and how each individual responds to them:
these are what change life values.
Life Values are mostly stable throughout life. Over time the Life
Values & Life Events will mutually influence each other.
Adventure 40%
Safety 52%
Conscience 63%
Slogan:
These are very attractive for retirees, since they generally mean:
- high quality medical facilities
- intergenerational, cosmopolitan community
- access to volunteer opportunities
- walkable shopping amenities and a town-like neighborhood
- arts, culture, and lifelong learning
- lively and diverse social and intellectual life
http://www.kendal.org/
http://www.oakhammock.org
Center For Design Research & Innovation
Images from:
http://www.villageatpennstate.com
Image from:
http://www.lasellvillage.com/
Image from:
http://kah.kendal.org/
http:// web.mit.edu/ir/urc/may2004/Prospectus_5_20_04.pdf
The original motives were better daycare, a safer neighborhood, and closer friendship
and community ties.
Facilities generally include modest private dwellings, tightly clustered around well-
planned,useable public spaces, and extensive communal facilities that support
shared cooking, dining, socializing, recreation, child-care, and other activities.
There are currently 80 cohousing communities in the US, with more than 100 more in
the planning stages.
TND Economics:
These planning principles seem to sell: units in TNDs (and “New Urbanist”
developments) sell for 10-20% more than comparables in nearby ordinary
developments.
The story of property valued at Seaside (told in Boomer Nation) shows the effect of
high quality and short supply on prices, for (the first) innovative development using
these principles.
So, if they live in suburbia now, boomers may want something more,
or different, when the kids are gone. It will need to be a hybrid of
what is good about the suburbs, offer solutions to their critical aging-
related problems, and provide vivid life-enhancing “experiences.”
http://www.smithvillage.org/
Senior Suites of Chatham (8300 S Cottage Grove Ave; Chicago Dept on Aging)
provides services to residents and neighborhood elders alike, and so helps integrate
the building and its residents into the life of the community.
Image from: http://www.cityofchicago.org/Aging/ Chicago Dept on Aging
Local examples?
This is the more general trend / preference behind NORCs: Most people want to
stay where the are as long as possible, even to the end.
Lexington, KY, has an initiative to evaluate its 125 neighborhood groups in terms
of suitability for Aging in Place. Baltimore’s comprehensive approach is discussed
below.
Wells Fargo Bank is positioning itself as the preferred lender for AIP housing
options.
With AARP involvement, NAHB has created its “CAPS” program: “Certified Aging
in Place Specialists.”
http://www.beaconhillvillage.org/
http://www.n4a.org/
Keys were:
- Tie in to city and regional governments is a must
- Tie in to community and neighborhood groups,
and institutions is also a must
- Prepare for and serve aging, diverse population
- Including those with special needs, in poverty, or at-risk
Environmental Needs:
- Affordable and age-appropriate housing
- Multi-mode, safe transportation, including walking
- Older citizens empowered to shape their lives
- Neighborhoods navigable for differently-abled
2. Empower people:
- help them do what they need to do
- identify and remove barriers
Interview with John Stewart for Nursing Homes, August 2006, available at:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3830/is_8_55/ai_n16740971
Plans include assisted living, condos and apartments, sub- and market-rate,
retail and office spaces, and up to 255 units with 500 residents on the 30
acre site. There are 70 units so far, with 2000 households on the wait list.
Existing pre-civil-war hotel was rehabbed as a part of the complex. The new
Central Baltimore YMCA is on the property, providing intergenerational social
and recreational opportunities: day care, a pool, ball fields, and play spaces.
A 501 (e) (3) entity, they are the developer of Stadium Place, Baltimore.
"In partnership with faith communities, GEDCO provides affordable housing with
supportive services and assists in meeting emergency needs of area residents.
“GEDCO is a thriving, forward-looking nonprofit organization that addresses some of the most
complex challenges facing America's urban communities in the 21st century. Every day, we
strive to meet the needs of some of Baltimore's neediest citizens. We do this by providing a
sense of home through our housing programs. We do this by fostering a sense of
encouragement and a sense of hope through our food pantry and emergency financial
assistance center. We invite you to learn more about us and the exciting work we are doing.”
http://www.gedco.org/
“Research shows that 95% of today's independent and active older adults prefer to remain
in their homes and communities as they age. Mather LifeWays' Community Initiatives help
neighborhoods become better places for older adults to live, work, learn, contribute, and
play. Our programs include Mather's—More Than a Café locations, the Mather Edgewater
outreach program, and Info Plus.”
The “Café-Plus” format is storefront that they rent and renovate on a short-term
(5-year) basis, and set up a restaurant that doubles as a social environment.
They provide breakfast and lunch at low prices for neighborhood residents, not
necessarily dinner. Steady staff are trained to perform a social guidance and
monitoring role.
The goal is to attract those who reject other social environments, and to keep
people socially connected. The approach is a “retail” concept, where the folks
are “customers”. It’s also open to all ages; and the food is cheap. Food brings
people together, creating a “stealth” support system / network. Customers help
with the menu planning, and can contribute recipes.
People want to stay in their communities and in their homes (over 80%),
and also stay independent as they age and as their needs increase. It’s
about improving lives for these folks but also harnessing the power of
these older Americans to improve our society.
Streetcar suburbs and towns that have commercial amenities are much more
amenable to “aging in place” than post-1950s suburbs designed for cars
only, with no sidewalks, spread-out distances, no public transport.
Predominance of these latter environments lead to problems for their aging
residents:
- social isolation and depression, alcoholism
- lack of exercise, obesity
- physical and mental deterioration
Mobility for the aging population is essential; it’s the key to “choice and
control”.
Cited by Bill Novelli as “a town not a tract”, King Farm near Rockville,
MD, is a New Urbanist and TOD inspired development: linked to
quality public transit, pedestrian-friendly, and higher density.
http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/case/kingfarm.htm
A Gallup Poll around 1990 asked people 50+ to name their ideal place to live, and 60%
idealized small towns or rural areas. A better place to live economically and also to
get in touch with important values. But being near to city amenities was still valued.
Sarasota, FL
Ashland (and Astoria), OR
Iowa City, IA
Athens, GA
Fort Collins (etc), CO
Beaufort (etc), SC
Portsmouth, NH (and Brunswick, ME)
Hendersonville (etc), NC
Ithaca, NY
Chicago
Baltimore
- Emphasizing issues from the “Ten Attractors” and other amenity lists.
- Implementing the NORC and AIP strategies in specific towns and districts.
Images from:http://www.thevillages.com/
“The Eden Alternative™ has the potential of remaking the experience of aging
and disability across America and around the world. It is a powerful tool for
improving quality of life. To make that happen, however, we need to teach
others about what The Eden Alternative™ is and how they can use it to
transform the communities in which they work. We create coalitions of people
and organizations that are committed to creating better social and physical
environments for people. We are dedicated to helping others create
enlivening environments and the elimination of the plagues of Loneliness,
Helplessness, and Boredom. We are dedicated to helping people grow.
“The core concept of The Eden Alternative™ is strikingly simple. We must teach
ourselves to see the environments as habitats for human beings rather than
facilities for the frail and elderly. We must learn what Mother Nature has to
teach us about the creation of vibrant, vigorous habitats
http://www.edenalt.com/
http://www.csdarch.com/portfolio/senior.cfm
http://www.summitlynchburg.com/
Center For Design Research & Innovation
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=118705&ran=47305
http://www.warwick-grove.com
“Sustainability means “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”
Sustainable design is the creation of plans for built works that minimally impact or impose upon
existing resources and the natural environment in which they are located.”
“Sustainable design is the effort to sustain, as much as possible, what is naturally occurring on
a building site, to minimize the amount of energy, as well as natural and human resources
that are exhausted in the process of building and in materials, and to account for the
conservation of energies throughout the building's life cycle.”
-- Ryan Giblin
-- http://www.wwapc.com/sustainability.html
“Green building starts off with the premise that the inhabitants’ well being, health, and comfort
come first, and incorporates this idea into the design process. It then looks for ways to reduce
the burden on the environment in terms of resource and land use and air and water quality.”
-- http://www.greenhomenyc.org/
“Horticultural Therapy” uses plants, gardens, and courtyards in therapeutic programming for
seniors, not just to look at or walk through.
“The American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) is a champion of barrier-free, therapeutic
gardens that enable everyone to work, learn, and relax in the garden. Horticultural therapists are
skilled at creating garden spaces that accommodate people with a wide range of abilities. People
with physical or mental disabilities benefit from gardening experiences as part of HT programs,
and they learn skills, adaptations, and gardening methods that allow for continued participation at
home.”
Possibilities include:
- wide, gentle wheelchair entrances and paths.
- easily reachable raised beds and containers
- adapting tool designs to turn a disability into an ability
- sensory-stimulation environments (plants for fragrance texture and color)
- accessible greenhouses for year-round garden enjoyment.”
http://aahid.org/en-us/default.aspx
“As the oldest and largest school of gerontology in the world, the Davis
School (at the University of Southern California) has a long tradition of
forging new pathways in the field of aging. A multidisciplinary
institution from its inception in 1975, the Davis School was built on the
bedrock of excellence in aging research. Research in molecular
biology, neuroscience, demography, psychology, sociology and
public policy is conducted under the auspices of the Andrus
Gerontology Center, founded in 1964.”
http://www.usc.edu/dept/gero
“The Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) improves the quality of healthcare
through design by developing, documenting, and disseminating knowledge;
educating healthcare architects and other related constituencies; advancing the
practice of healthcare architecture; improving the design of healthcare
environments; affiliating and advocating with others that share our vision and
promoting research.”
http://www/aoa/prg/aah_default
“The Center for Universal Design (CUD, at the North Carolina Institute on
Aging) is a national information, technical assistance, and research center
that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal
design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor
environments, and products. Our mission is to improve environments and
products through design innovation, research, education and design
assistance.”
http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/
“NAHB is a trade association that helps promote policies that make housing a
national priority. Its mission is to “represent the building industry by serving its
members and affiliated state and local builders associations. NAHB
concentrates on the following goals: balanced national legislative, regulatory, and
judicial public policy; public appreciation for the importance of housing and those
who provide it; the premier resource for industry information, education, research,
and technical expertise; improved business performance of its members and
affiliates; effective management of staff, financial, and physical resources to satisfy
the association’s needs.
http://www.nahb.org/page.aspx/landing/sectionID=5
On how their aging experience or care should differ from their parents:
“I thoroughly believe in the extended family. If you stick an older person in a nursing home, nobody needs them
anymore, and they know that. The thing that keeps people going is the thought that you’re needed. And, I mean, I
don’t want to be a burden on somebody physically, where they’ll have to try to carry me or try to administer care to
me that they are not capable to give. Just because you’re old and sick and can’t move around doesn’t mean that
you still don’t have things to offer.”
“I want to have a larger scope to my life, a small town life had its benefits for my parents because of these friends
and this familiarity, but it was also very insular, I would say. They didn’t see much of the world or see much of
anything, and so I guess all of my life I’ve thought I needed a bigger canvas.”
On cohousing:
“If we could ever afford to do that here that would be way better, but that’s not gonna happen with older
people.”
Freedman tells the story of the Del Webb Company’s compete transforming
vision of retirement in America. It was very well timed, and very successful.
Their goal was to create a new vision more affirming of older people than the mere
“neglect” which had been the norm from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution until
the 1950s.
The 19th century had marginalized the old: age was seen as a tragic disease.
Yet by the mid-20th century, improved health and economic independence from
family (via social security) had set the stage for a new vision.
At “Sun City” they created a new kind of environment that invented and defined
that vision, offering a new lifestyle of “activity, economy, and individuality” to
replace the mere neglect.
Ten times the expected crowds (100,000 people) came to Sun City, Arizona’s
opening day in 1960: