2. Sustainable Urbanism: Affordable housing for ageing populations
Lack of affordable housing is a critical issue in Australia, and elsewhere and is affecting greater numbers of people in the urban areas of Sydney. In addition to this, the ongoing pandemic and climate change is having a great impact on people with factors such as unemployment leading to unaffordability. While housing stock is poorly designed for increasing temperatures and heat waves, there is a growing population of elderly people whose housing must accommodate their specific health and social needs.
Since the pandemic and climate change are unpredictable and the social ageing issues are long term issues, there is a need for adaptability and hence the strategies and planning should be made to rethink the housing density and its following parameters in response to old people’s needs and priorities, while its adapting potential with respect to increasing temperatures.
Housing aspirations of older people: 55 years and over prefer detached dwellings in medium or outer suburbs and 75 years and over prefer smaller dwellings or apartments in inner suburbs.
Priorities of old people: Most of the older generations want to own the houses and finally age-in-place. Except the private and social housing sector, most of them meet the housing aspiration goals. However, more number of relocations contracts their desire to age-in-place and finally, downsizing under loan/lease agreements especially for renters in social and private sectors seems to not meet the housing aspiration needs.
Emerging trends to integrate ageing populations into their communities:
Universal design: According to recent research, Australians over 60 prefer to live in their own homes. The need for an inclusive housing which is livable and adaptable can provide more independence to older people. Universal design can be a good solution to meet the needs of older generations. However, care should be taken to not make it more commercial and unaffordable and create a happy space for the people to age-in-place.
Mixed use developments: Having an integrated housing in a close knit community can help ageing populations to lead their lives. This can also help them to build their life with more independence. The trend of mixed used communities with inclusive aged-care living has been evolving recently and looks promising.
Multi generational housing: Every housing unit in Sydney could provide a self-contained unit with a minimum area of 60sqm. Granny flats gain a growing interest where grandparents can move into this flat while their kids can live the main house providing support to the older people.
Housing above shopping centres: Another important factor to be considered is ‘mobility’. The closer the infrastructure, the better it is for ageing populations. A new emerging trend currently is to provide retirement housing above the shopping centres. They can have easy access to healthcare facilities, shops and restaurants.
Also, for the health and well-being of the older people, urban roof gardens and community gardens can be a way to connect them back to natural settings while reducing their anxiety, stress and making them self-sufficient. Making older people active through community workshops and other creative activities can engage them to build relationships and improve their overall health mentally and physically.
