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PEOPLE FLOW |
B
y 2030 almost 5 billion
people will be living in
towns and cities; and 20
percent of the population
of 55 countries will be over
65 years old. Yet many
houses and neighborhoods
are based on cultural and social models
from decades or even centuries ago, when
we lived slow, we built slow, and our under-
standing of the complexity of our relation-
ships was only beginning to blossom.
Then and now
The world’s graying population is healthier
than ever before, but that does not assume
we can neglect their special needs. Rapid
urbanization will affect not only how densely
we must live but how polluted our urban air
becomes. Combined with the need to live
in a less environmentally damaging way,
there are clear challenges ahead for both
residential new builds and modernizations,
with implications also for the surrounding
social and infrastructural networks.
Nevertheless, the solutions for our future
dwellings are for the most part already
there: the problem lies in establishing
the connections – between appropriate
technologies, research knowledge, service
providers – and linking them to actual needs
and behaviors.
What if your home and the
building you live in could grow
old with you? Talk to you? What
if it helped you deal with other
daily challenges, such as energy
consumption, air quality and
temperature?
ng
The residential properities at
Battersea Reach in London, U.K. are
part of an urban renewal development
project where residents can live, work
and relax without the need to travel.