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Cohousing for older people: housing innovation in the Netherlands and Denmark
Author(s) -
Bamford Greg
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2005.00065.x
Subject(s) - appeal , older people , unit (ring theory) , gerontology , space (punctuation) , sociology , psychology , medicine , political science , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics education , law
Objective: The aim of this paper is to elucidate cohousing for older people.Method: The research is based on a literature review and interviews (in English) with residents of seven schemes in the Netherlands and Denmark, a social housing organisation and several researchers in the field (in 1995 and 2002).Results and Conclusions: Cohousing for older people is now well established in its countries of origin – Denmark and the Netherlands – as a way for older people to live in their own house or unit, with a self‐chosen group of other older people as neighbours, with shared space and facilities they collectively determine or control. As more such housing is built and occupied it has become easier to choose and assess this option. It remains to be seen how widespread its appeal will be, but cohousing for older people is now a valued housing niche.