Planning for the Majority: The Needs and Aspirations of Older People in General Housing

The ageing of our society presents a range of challenges to housing providers. It is not just that there will be more older people in coming decades, or that they will represent a significantly higher proportion of the total population; their needs and aspirations will be different too. This review argues that the lifestyle choices made by people through most of their old age need to be taken into account alongside the established concerns for potential increases in frailty and dependence. Whilst the standards and style of specialised housing for older people need to reflect these emerging trends it is to those planning, designing and developing general housing that this review and its recommendations are particularly directed. The overwhelming majority of older people live in general housing and it is here, whether in new build or in major refurbishment, in the planning of neighbourhoods and the design of dwellings, that the messages of this review need to be heard.