Co-housing communities, which are designed to encourage interaction
in everyday life and informal mutual support, are often seen as a lifestyle
that can improve residents’ health and well-being.
This viewpoint considers how spatial design, resident control and home
technologies matter to ‘successful ageing’ in the increasingly popular
co-housing communities- both intergenerational and senior. Based
on the authors’ long-term research into these schemes, as well as
on an interactive learning day that focused on the health and ageing
dimensions of co-housing, the authors argue that the physical and
mental well-being of older populations in the UK could be enhanced
through this model’s social and material practices. Research, however,
is still needed and lacking to determine its true potential for combatting
loneliness, increasing social and physical resilience and improving older
residents’ health.