With respects to fulfilling a couple of smart growth's principles¶
§
Δ as well as the social components of sustainability¶
§, opportunities for intergenerational interaction are likely to become part-and-parcel of any senior housing project fitting into its surrounding neighbourhood. The aspect of creating an 'intentional community' [2] for seniors, and 'senior cohousing' [3]¶ invoke dynamic visions beyond just providing housing.
Additionally, the feasibility of housing projects being established within the very boundaries of existing plazas and malls will increase significantly over the next five-to-ten years, as will the demand for housing units to be affordable. As an important smart growth principle, the very issue of affordable housing¶
§ is certain to affect this sector. The trends toward maximizing energy and resource efficiencies, critical components to sustainable design¶
§ will most certainly add depth to that issue. These too are finding their way into redefined land-use¶
§ policies destined to affect senior housing.
Sustainable Design - Over the past decade the Building Research Establishment of England [4], and the U.S. Green Building Council, in association with the American Institute of Architects, have been making significant advances in directing the building industry worldwide toward sustainability. In 2006, Canada joined an exploding international list of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED¶
§) certification and assessment bodies [5] determined to lessen an entire industry's negative impacts on local environments and global resources.
An impressive array of progressively improving social, economic and environmental benefits displayed by buildings applying green design,¶
§
Δ have convinced a respectable number of municipal councils that adopting sustainable design¶
§ policies is advantages for the taxpayers as well as for the greater community.
Albeit a significant amount of the cost-savings enjoyed from reduced, even eliminated demand from utility resources such as water and energy consumption,¶
§ help pay for the buildings, cheap oil has played major roles in virtually every aspect of creating a building. This brings us to the third and perhaps most challenging of all the trends mentioned.
'Peak Oil' - The term used to capture the global market impact of increasing demand for, and decreasing supply, and production,¶
§ of oil provokes intense clarification to the meaning of sustainability. The daunting specters of this exploding issue have given birth to a whole new movement, one intended to anticipate and address any given community's capacity for self-sufficiency. What bares relevance to senior housing is that relocalization [6]¶ places sharp focus on ensuring the future ability of community residents to obtain, even afford the most basic of products, particularly food substances from within a 160 kilometre (100 mile) radius. Given that, it would serve both the community, as well as the seniors of a housing project, to have access to gardens. Digressing back to sustainable design,¶
§ vegetative roofs¶
§
Δ are likely to become amenities additional to being part of a building's passive design. [7]¶With respect to the long-term urban planning,¶ Drs. Robert and Sonia Vogl from the Illinois Renewable Energy Association advise:
"Although uncertainty surrounds the timing of peak oil,¶
§
Δ prudent risk management
§ requires planning and implementing mitigating strategies well in advance of the actual event." [8]
Author James Kunstler's, an expert involved early in the New Urbanism movement, informed advice must also be considered. Kunstler insists that that Vogls' "actual event" will in fact be a 'Long Emergency'¶
§ - a lengthy period wherein societies will struggle to overcome, or adequately replace their dependency on oil through alternative means. Since oil currently plays major roles in our everyday needs and wants, life in Kunstler's Long Emergency¶
§ will be about "staying in place." [9]
If even a small degree of the dire predictions surrounding the matter of peak oil¶
§
Δ come to be, challenges for the senior housing sector may be even greater than anything I've covered in this brief.
1. http://www.davidrisstrom.org/100GreenAchievements/100GA-MelbournePrinciples.html
2. "Intentional community is a general term for planned residential communities where residents have greater social interaction compared to other groups of houses or apartments." ~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_community
3. Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living by Charles Durrett claims to be the best and most in-depth guide to one of the fastest growing sectors of the cohousing community. Senior Cohousing is a valuable resource for seniors, housing professionals, designers and anyone seeking appropriate housing alternatives for today's dynamic older people. ~
http://store.ic.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=334
'Planning Report (pg 16)
4. Although BRE's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is the world's longest established and most widely used, the Green Building Council's LEED has received more North American exposure and recognition. GreenGlobes (
http://www.greenglobes.com) provides online BREEAM assessments.
5. Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) -
http://www.cagbc.org
6. The Relocalization Network -
http://www.postcarbon.org/relocalize/ (URL updated Aug. 25, 2011)
7. "Passive design... does not require mechanical heating or cooling...tak[ing] advantage of natural energy flows to maintain thermal comfort." ~
http://www.climatesmart.qld.gov.au/your_home/building/passive_design.html (URL updated Aug. 25, 2011)
8. Peak Oil and lifestyle: Ready for the transition? Drs. Robert & Sonia Vogl, Illinois Renewable Energy Assoc.
http://rockrivertimes.com/1993/07/01/peak-oil-and-lifestyle-ready-for-a-transition/ (accessed Apr. 4, 2006, updated Aug. 25, 2011)
9. The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophies of the Twenty-First Century; James Howard Kunstler, Publ. 2005
