Planning and development of Collaborative Housing and Shared Housing as Intermediate Forms of Housing for promoting older adults’ health and well-being

House-Well tackles the urgent challenge of developing novel, accessible and scalable intermediate forms of housing to counteract unwanted social isolation and negative effects on the physical, cognitive and mental health of older adults.

Considering that the number of adults over 80-years old will double in Sweden by 2045, research focusing on what types of housing forms and social interaction they prefer and need for a healthier ageing is urgent. House-Well addresses these challenges through research, innovation and capacity building.

First, the project will investigate the role that security accommodation and collaborative housing have on social isolation, loneliness and inactivity in older adults through a quantitative survey and qualitative evaluation of the built environment.

The spatial features of the case studies will be depicted into architectural programmes and receive feedback by residents regarding how they connect socio-spatial practices, health and well-being in everyday life.

House-Well will set up an Urban Living Lab with practice partners consisting of online exchanges, study visits to collaborative housing for seniors and co-creation workshops.

This will lead to co-creating a design toolkit for planning intermediate forms of shared housing to promote health and well-being.

Finally, workshops for practitioners focusing on how to use the design toolkit, as well as a series of webinars to build capacity among a diverse group of actors will be conducted.