The Social Courtyards

The distance between many seniors and others in the elderly´s living environment, including myself, is too large. This distance should be reduced because it could lead to social isolation and/or loneliness among the vulnerable elderly. Thereby, as a result of the baby boom generation, a large part of the Dutch population will be older than 65 years old in the upcoming years. That is why the question of a pleasant and personal living environment for this generation is even more urgent. According to my empirical and literature studies this segregation between the elderly and their surroundings is caused by several things:

•Firstly, the growth of this segregation is through the (physical and mental) barriers which make it increasingly difficult to meet others in their direct surrounding (due to age-related disabilities and illness)
•Secondly, most of the housing types for the elderly is now arranged so that they mainly live together with their age group and they continue living in their bubble.
•Thirdly, their “own” social network is getting smaller and the elderly becoming more dependent on help in the immediate vicinity.
These causes can be seen as a chain reaction that keeps getting bigger and therefore the distance gets bigger as well. The issue of this report is to what extent architectural design can contribute to reducing the growing gap between the elderly and their living environment and thus make a positive contribution to breaking through social isolation. Therefore, my research question for this thesis is:

''To what extent does the architectural design play a role in reducing the distance between the elderly and their neighbourhood to encourage the social inclusiveness of them in their living environment?''

The design of the Social Courtyards is the translation of the results of the research question. My graduation project aimed to ensure that the elderly continue to interact passively and actively with their environment in a pleasant way. This is to increase a sense of belonging in the neighbourhood, despite the mental and physical limitations associated with their old age. Reducing the distance of the elderly towards their living environment improves the elderly’s mental and physical health. The design is located in Driebergen and the design is named Social Courtyards.