Where We Retire
It's As Important As How We Retire
Retirement housing options abound these days and for good reason; the world is aging rapidly.
For example, the fastest growing age group in the United States today is the over 85 cohort, followed closely by the over 100 age group.
Some will spot the nuances in the phrase, “fastest growing age group” and you’d be right to suggest that in terms of sheer numbers, those over 85 aren’t dominant. Yet.
According to Bradley Schurman, a demographics expert, author of The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny, and an upcoming guest on The Art 2 Aging, those of us over 65 will soon outnumber those under the age of 18 in at least 35 countries.
That’s simply staggering in its import. One of the obvious areas where this lands with the greatest force is in the area of retirement housing.
Retirement housing can be as simple a situation as someone “aging in place” which is a cute way of saying they’re staying in their own home as long as they are able.
While retirement is a universal global notion, countries approach it differently from a housing perspective.
Many nations, including Canada and the United States, are pouring as many resources as fiscal plans allow into helping older people remain in their homes, surrounded by not just their physical possessions but their memories as well.
Such living arrangements produce longer, healthier lives and reduce the burden on healthcare facilities.
From a cost per older person basis, this is by far the least expensive. No need to build privately owned, privately run but partially subsidized retirement residences of anywhere from 300 to 600 beds. Who wants to live in another 20 million dollar highrise?
Granted, proper architectural planning would allow those 600 beds to be spread out among a number of low rise structures but that takes up more land and with pressure growing on municipalities throughout North America to use available space to build more affordable homes for the working population, it’s not likely retirement communities will be spread over 10 acres.
The European model for such retirement communities offers distinct and very appealing differences in design approaches from those in the U.S. and Canada.
For years, European and Scandinavian countries have developed retirement facilities from a starting point of community. “Form follows function” is the over-arching principle.
Take a look at some of these images of European retirement communities from a U.S.-based architectural company’s website.
All photos courtesy of BuildLLC.com
These are prime examples of stunning buildings that also serve to create community, almost like a neighborhood within the walls.
In the U.S., planned retirement communities exist, too, and they usually come in the form of full blown neighborhoods complete with infrastructure services. Sunrise, Florida is a prime example but there are a number of others like The Villages in Florida.
Coincidentally, there is a community in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, called The Village which was not planned as a retirement village but, given the age cohort in that beautiful town on the Niagara River, it is effectively what’s known as a NORC or naturally occuring retirement community. Further, The Village was designed and architected by Andres Duany, who designed the town of Seaside, Florida (where the film, The Truman Show, was shot) and which is also an area where many have retired because of its community feel.
So, there are various ways in which retirement can take physical shape in housing terms. Where examples of exceptional forward thinking and planning have been used, the results are just as exceptional and pleasing to the eye.
Who wouldn’t want to live somewhere that is as appealing in retirement as one’s old neighborhood was growing up?
Thanks for raising the argument for better architecture design and for community for ageing adults.