Principles and recommendations to design aging-friendly homes

The aging population is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and with it, the number of older adults that decide to age in place. Some public and private efforts have been made in order to better understand the mobility and physical needs of older adults in home environments. However, most of these efforts have missed a holistic definition of home and how the human dwelling is influenced by aging. This thesis is composed of three studies: a national survey, a series of in-home interviews, and an intergenerational workshop. The overall objective of these studies was to understand how older adults live and move within their homes, as well as what their emotional and functional expectations of their homes are. The outcome of this work is a set of principles and recommendations that design professionals can use when designing home environments or home-related products. These principles and recommendations are meant to serve as a guide to approach a project with the right mindset-a mindset that augments empathy and understanding for older adults, and that challenges the preconceptions of what a home is and what it should do for us as we age.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Tort Ayala, Laura Susana.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph Coughlin and Chaiwoo Lee.

• Engineering and Management Program.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122341

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122341