Les grands ensembles, supports au vieillissement ? Etudes de cas à Toulouse et Bruxelles
(2023) Gérontologie et société - cahiers de la Fondation nationale de gérontologie — Vol. 46, n° 2, p. 19-44 (2023)
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- (en) The large housing estates built in the 1960s to facilitate access to property for young households are now faced with an aging resident population, with some residents having never lived elsewhere. Since this form of housing was not specifically designed for an aging population, this article examines the role of spatial, social, emotional, and symbolic support offered by large-scale housing developments as their residents age in place. The study is based on the experiences and opinions of people aged between sixty-five and ninety-eight in five condominiums in Toulouse and Brussels. Semi-structured interviews accompanied by surveys of the inhabited dwellings made it possible to characterize the relationship of the older residents to the large housing complex, and to identify the forms of support they use. Thus, the village identity, the collective dimension designed to benefit the individual, and the extended sense of interiority, along with the associated mechanisms, seem to naturally foster autonomy and the feeling of being at home. The results of the observation show how, on the one hand, when it comes to large housing estates, living spaces that are not designed for an aging population can still accommodate older residents. On the other hand, the results highlight the urgency for private housing managers to maintain housing designed for all ages, and to be more mindful of each resident’s age when offering support.
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Courbebaisse, A. (2023). Les grands ensembles, supports au vieillissement ? Etudes de cas à Toulouse et Bruxelles. Gérontologie et société - cahiers de la Fondation nationale de gérontologie, 46(2), 19-44. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/102670 (Original work published 2023)