The economic recession has hit especially hard the residential building sector in the EU region, e.g., the number of the housing completions has decreased -49% and the total residential output has been squeezed down by -24% between 2007 and 2014 (Euroconstruct, 2015). In turn, the aim of our paper is to suggest a set of radical, novel programmes for developing the national residential building sectors within EU member countries up to 2025. We have applied the framework of strategic niche management (SNM) to the diagnoses of the current portfolios of the innovation, R&D programs in our two member country contexts. In the case of the Northern Finland, the prime example is Hiukkavaara, the largest district to be built in the City of Oulu. Homes will be constructed for 20,000 new residents. Hiukkavaara is a model for climate- conscious design in the northern hemisphere. Energy and materials are conserved, nature is valued and human beings adapt to their environment. One sub-programme involves Future Buildings and Renewable Energy Project. In the case of the Netherlands, the prime example is Energiesprong (Energy Leap), i.e., the innovation programme commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. The aim is to make buildings energy-neutral and boost large-scale initiatives. The sub-programmes are targeting homes owned by housing associations, privately owned homes, office buildings, shops and care institutions. This programme is about ensuring new supply by encouraging companies to package a variety of technical sub-solutions, full services and financing options as well as about asking clients to put out tenders and ask for quotes in novel ways, with the government making changes to the rules and the regulations. Experiences on which the Dutch case in this paper focuses are sub-programmes for residential buildings, which include de Stroomversnelling, LALOG and Ons Huis Verdient Het. Based on the emerging Finnish and Dutch evidence, we are suggesting key elements to be incorporated into future national residential programmes within EU member countries on: (1) radical direction with balanced stakeholder groups, trustworthy advocates, contextual goal-setting and barriers management, (2) radical networking with entrepreneurial roles and causal links, novel expertise, transparent choices and digital platforms and (3) radical learning processes to arrive at better informed markets on user preferences, co-innovating, new rules and regulations, higher performance/price ratios, higher quality, new roles and responsibilities assignments.
DOCUMENT
Population ageing has become a domain of international discussions and research throughout the spectrum of disciplines including housing, urban planning, and real estate. Older people are encouraged to continue living in their homes in their familiar environment, and this is referred to as “ageing-in-place”. Enabling one to age-in-place requires new housing arrangements that facilitate and enable older adults to live comfortably into old age, preferably with others. Innovative examples are provided from a Dutch social housing association, illustrating a new approach to environmental design that focuses more on building new communities in conjunction with the building itself, as opposed to the occupational therapeutic approaches and environmental support. Transformation projects, referred to as “Second Youth Experiments”, are conducted using the Røring method, which is based on the principles of co-creation. De Benring in Voorst, The Netherlands, is provided as a case study of an innovative transformation project. This project shows how social and technological innovations can be integrated in the retrofitting of existing real estate for older people. It leads to a flexible use of the real estate, which makes the building system- and customer preference proof. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings8070089 © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
MULTIFILE
Senior co-housing communities offer an in-between solution for older people who do not want to live in an institutional setting but prefer the company of their age peers. Residents of co-housing communities live in their own apartments but undertake activities together and support one another. This paper adds to the literature by scrutinizing the benefits and drawbacks of senior co-housing, with special focus on the forms and limits of social support and the implications for the experience of loneliness. Qualitative fieldwork was conducted in eight co-housing communities in the Netherlands, consisting of document analysis, interviews, focus groups, and observations. The research shows that co-housing communities offer social contacts, social control, and instrumental and emotional support. Residents set boundaries regarding the frequency and intensity of support. The provided support partly relieves residents’ adult children from caregiving duties but does not substitute formal and informal care. Due to their access to contacts and support, few residents experience social loneliness. Co-housing communities can potentially also alleviate emotional loneliness, but currently, this happens to a limited degree. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for enhancing the benefits and reducing the drawbacks of senior co-housing. Original article at MDPI; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193776
MULTIFILE
The “Creating Age-friendly Communities: Housing and Technology” publication presents contemporary, innovative, and insightful narratives, debates, and frameworks based on an international collection of papers from scholars spanning the fields of gerontology, social sciences, architecture, computer science, and gerontechnology. This extensive collection of papers aims to move the narrative and debates forward in this interdisciplinary field of age-friendly cities and communities. (This book is a reprint of the Special Issue Creating Age-friendly Communities: Housing and Technology that was published in Healthcare)
MULTIFILE
![Creating age-friendly communities: Housing and technology [book]](https://publinova-harvester-content-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/thumbnails/files/previews/pdf/20250506132407955076.b97102b7-5bdc-4b75-a293-4281df36ef73-thumbnail-400x300.png)
This paper presents work aimed at improved organization and performance of production in housing renovation projects. The purpose is to explore and demonstrate the potential of lean work organization and industrialized product technology to improve workflow and productive time. The research included selected case studies that have been found to implement lean work organization and industrialized product technology in an experimental setting. Adjustments to the work organization and construction technology have been implemented on site. The effects of the adjustments have been measured and were reviewed with operatives and managers. The data have been collected and analyzed, in comparison to traditional settings. Two projects were studied. The first case implied am application of lean work organization in which labor was reorganized redistributing and balancing operations among operatives of different trades. In the second case industrialized solution for prefabricated installation of prefabricated roofs. In both cases the labor productivity increased substantially compared to traditional situations. Although the limited number of cases, both situations appeared to be representative for other housing projects. This has led to conclusions extrapolated from both cases applicable to other projects, and contribution to the knowledge to improve production in construction. Vrijhoef, R. (2016). “Effects of Lean Work Organization and Industrialization on Workflow and Productive Time in Housing Renovation Projects.” In: Proc. 24 th Ann. Conf. of the Int’l. Group for Lean Construction, Boston, MA, USA, sect.2 pp. 63–72. Available at: .
MULTIFILE
Since the financial and administrative liberalisation from the government in the late 1980s and the 1990s, the Dutch housing associations have been very dynamic, regarding the considerable extension of both commercial and social activities, the increased reliance and dependence on market circumstances, and the large number of amalgamations, creating bigger organisations. In recent years the Dutch social housing sector is under increased pressure as a consequence of the credit crunch, increased tax levies and the national implementation in the sector of EU regulations on ‘Services of General Economic Interest’. Factors like these are likely to have an effect on the organisational strategies of housing associations, the main providers of social housing in the Netherlands. The direction and the size of these effects, however, are not well known. A recent inquiry among housing associations sheds more light on this. In this paper, we make use of a classification including a socialcommercial dimension and a dimension between so-called ‘prospectors’ and ‘defenders’. This classification proves to be an adequate tool to describe the recent developments in the sector. It is concluded that, in general, housing associations are focussing more on traditional social housing tasks and ‘defending’ strategies, implying a shift back compared to the trend in recent decades.
DOCUMENT
In the Netherlands, there is a growing need for collective housing for older people to bridge the gap between ageing-in-place and institutional care facilities. Participation of older people in the concept and design phases is important to tune the market supply to the needs of (future) residents, yet social entrepreneurs find it challenging to involve older people. This commentary explores various ways older people can participate in the development of new housing initiatives. The ladder of citizen participation is applied to explore different roles that (future) residents could play with levels of influence varying from non-participation to citizen power. Considerations for meaningful participation are discussed, in order to show how collaborations can be formed between (future) residents and decision makers. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030301 © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
MULTIFILE
The establishment of new housing initiatives for older people begins with the participation of (future) residents. This study explored how participation is experienced by both facilitators and (future) residents and what lessons are learned regarding the facilitation of meaningful participation. Participation was studied through semi-structured interviews and focus group sessions from the perspective of 34 (future) residents and facilitators involved in participation processes in a diverse set of four housing projects from the Netherlands. The results focused on three phases: the initiation phase, the concepting and development phase, and the transition towards an established form of group housing. From the outset of such processes, it was important to involve all relevant stakeholders and to create a shared vision about the participation process. Discussions in small groups, the use of references, creative elements, and the creation of the right atmosphere were experienced as valuable during the concepting and design phase. In the third phase, the role of the organisation and residents needed to be discussed again. Participation should be a continuous process, during which trust, communication and having an open attitude are key. This study showed how innovative approaches can contribute to the creation of an environment in which older people can impact the actual design of housing, and make it more inclusive. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12030367 © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
MULTIFILE
Energy efficiency has gained a lot of prominence in recent debates on urban sustainability and housing policy due to its potential consequences for climate change. At the local, national and also international level, there are numerous initiatives to promote energy savings and the use of renewable energy to reduce the environmental burden. There is a lot of literature on energy saving and other forms of energy efficiency in housing. However, how to bring this forward in the management of individual housing organisations is not often internationally explored. An international research project has been carried out to find the answers on management questions of housing organisations regarding energy efficiency. Eleven countries have been included in this study: Germany, the United Kingdom (more specifically: England), France, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Canada. The state of the art of energy efficiency in the housing management of non-profit housing organisations and the embedding of energy efficiency to improve the quality and performance of housing in management practices have been investigated, with a focus on how policy ambitions about energy efficiency are brought forward in investment decisions at the estate level. This paper presents the conclusions of the research
DOCUMENT
Background The experiences of residents who have communication difficulties such as dysphasia are largely absent from the literature. Aim To illuminate the everyday experiences of four residents with severe communication difficulties living in a residential care setting in the Netherlands. Methodology & Methods A collective case study methodology was used. Seventy-five hours of observation, interview and documentary data was gathered over six weeks. Alternative strategies of communication were developed to enable the co-creation of dialogue between participants and researcher. For example, a participant who could not talk used intentionally created artwork to share her ideas with the researcher. Findings Participants' daily experiences were characterised by struggling against the constraints of the residential setting: having to wait, having unmet needs, experiencing vulnerability and uncertainty. Participants' communication difficulties exacerbated these constraints. Their experiences of struggling were sometimes ameliorated by significant social contact with family or particular staff members, and engaging in enjoyable activities. Occasionally the experiences of enjoying the here-and-now, and being 'seen' as a person by the other, would create beautiful moments in which truly person centred engagement would occur. These moments were neither articulated nor recorded, and were thus invisible after they had occurred. Similarly, the experiences of struggling against the constraints were neither acknowledged nor recorded. Significant experiences in the lives of these four residents were therefore invisible to others. The unifying theme representing the participants' daily experiences was: That which goes unsaid. Discussion It was necessary to develop communication strategies which would by-pass the researcher's assumptions and enable participants to introduce their own ideas and opinions. This ongoing process of co-creation of dialogue required work from, and trust between, participants and researcher. What is new? Expressly seeking the views of residents with communication difficulties Successfully using process consent with participants in this situation Using intentionally created artwork during data gathering in this context What has regional, national or international relevance? The findings indicate that people with communication difficulties may not receive optimal care in residential settings in the Netherlands. Methods are described which could be used by practitioners in their everyday work, and which show facilitators or practice developers how they can help carers to engage in more effective communication with this kind of resident. Additionally, this research contributes to the international discussion about ethical participation of vulnerable people in research.
DOCUMENT
