Kazak, J. K. (2023). Intergenerational social housing for older adults: Findings from a Central European city. Habitat International, 142, 102966.
Diverging from the traditional and homogeneous social housing solutions that are prevalent internationally, the study ‘Intergenerational Social Housing for Older Adults: Findings from a Central European City’ by Jan. K. Kazak, focuses on the first intergenerational social housing community in Poland, with a target group of elderly people, and its impacts on the residents. As the composition of the general population internationally is shifting towards an older generation, it becomes imperative to find solutions to inhibit cognitive decline and prolong autonomy and independence within the elderly population. Thus Kazak, through research and questionnaires, investigates the impact of intergenerational social housing.
The research was based on a series of questionnaires for two target groups consisting of residents within the chosen case study development. Group A consists of elderly people and Group B consists of the other residents. The chosen case study development was constructed in 2020 in Wroclaw, Poland, and consists of 57 apartments for people aged 65 and over, and 60 apartments for the rest of the citizens.
Firstly, Kazak sought the reasons that prompted the elderly to move in the first place. It is believed that the ideal situation would be that people would have the perfect conditions to age in place and that their space would adapt to their growing and changing needs. However, that is not often the case, and architectural barriers that caused the elderly to move were: stairs, lack of a lift, high door sills, narrow corridors or stairs, lack of handrails and ramps, and level differences. Therefore, the comparative evaluation points raised in the questionnaires (with regards to the residents’ previous and new places of residence) included points such as location, apartment sizes, architectonic barriers, the comfort of neighbourhoods, available services, affordability, social relations with neighbours, and amenities.
The outcome of this paper presented an overall positive impact on all residents, across all ages, with an 80% degree of high satisfaction, and 87% stating that they would live in the same situation again. Although the research did not state the reasons as to why the others were not satisfied as well. The results also showed that 61% of the residents regarded the new housing development to be more expensive than their previous living arrangements. However, the new spaces provided conveniences that were not offered in their old places such as the appropriate design of a building including a plan of apartments, comfortable communication areas (corridors, lifts, and stairs), well-designed and arranged open spaces in the apartments, common spaces inside the building, and self-collect delivery system. Additionally, none of the respondents said they would be interested in a building designed for only elderly people.
The research revealed that the social relationships between the two groups were both positive. 84% of respondents from Group A stated that they did not see any intergenerational conflict. From Group B, only 20% of residents perceived conflicts based on generational differences. They stated that it was due to dirtiness and lack of care for common areas as reasons for these conflicts, as well as unwanted odours, smoking, and different lifestyles. Also, 20% of respondents from Group B saw benefits from living in a building with older people, and the fact that half of the building would be dedicated to older people was a neutral factor in them moving into the space, to begin with.
This study is based on a small sample space and doesn’t discern if there are any social desirability biases or sampling biases. Additionally, the research only captures short-term impacts and experiences of intergenerational housing, as it was only conducted from September to October 2022. It would be beneficial to account for long-term effects or changes over time by conducting this research again after a certain time. Also, without a comparison group of older adults living in traditional housing arrangements, it may prove to be more challenging to attribute observed outcomes solely to intergenerational housing.
All in all, this study shows a promising new way of housing for elderly people. As mentioned in the class discussion, another solution for an ageing population would be retrofitting old buildings instead of new buildings for the Netherlands. Additionally, along with the idea of autonomy, an ‘in-between’ housing solution was discussed that allowed for the elderly to not lose their entire independence while still being able to gain additional care as another solution. All in all, with proper architectural considerations that suit the needs of elderly people, and positive impacts from social interactions with the younger generations, the intergenerational model can prove to be a viable solution that can be used in the future.