Retirement communities and housing for the elderly : editorial to the special issue


258 Geographica Helvetica Jg. 59 2004/ Heft 4

Retirement Communities and Housing for the Elderly
Editorial to the Special Issue

Susan Lucas, Edinboro, Rita Schneider- Sliwa, Basel

« Youth is everywhere in place. Age, like women, requires
fit surroundings. Age is comely in coaches, churches, in
chambers of state and ceremony, in council chambers, in
courts of justice and historical societies » Emerson 1862,
cited in Achenbaum 1978: 36).

In the spirit of Ralph Waldo Emersons oft quoted sen¬
timent regarding the « place » of ageing and the elderly
in society, the ageing of North Americas and Europes
populations provides the « fit surroundings » for the col¬
lection of papers on Retirement Communities and Hous¬
ing for the Elderly in this special edition of Geograph¬
ica Helvetica. Currently, over 12 percent of both the
Canadian and American populations are aged over 65
U. S. Census Bureau 2001). Approximately 15 percent

of Europes population is aged over 65 and over, with
Italy having the largest elderly population U. S. Census
Bureau 2001). In Switzerland the population over 64
years is 15.5%, comparable to the European standard,
and so are the Canton of Zurich 15.25%) and the
Canton of Geneva 14.64%), whereas the City Canton of
Basel has an above average elderly population 21.6%,
according to the Bundesamt für Statistik 2004). The size
of the elderly population in North America and Europe
is expected to continue to increase over the next couple
of decades as the baby- boom generation enters later life.
By the year 2030 projections indicate that 20 percent of
North Americas and 24 percent of Europes populations
will be aged over 65 U. S. Census Bureau 2001).

In an everyday sense the ageing of North Americas
and Europes populations are well known. Hardly a
week seems to go by without a newspaper story or
news report about how the ageing of the population
will negatively) impact society. Two issues in particu¬
lar, the costs of health care provision and income sup¬
port policies, have received a great deal of attention
and aroused much heated debate in the United States,
Canada and many European countries such as Switzer¬
land. The concentration of the elderly in certain places,
states or provinces and smaller communities has like¬
wise captured the imagination. Most people in North
America are, for example, aware of the concentration
of retirees in Florida and Arizona and the develop¬
ment and apparent popularity of Sun City retirement
communities in particular and retirement communi¬
ties in general. In a more mundane sense most urban
residents are aware of the existence of nursing homes

or apartment buildings containing large proportions of
older people within their city of residence. In Switzer¬
land, too, housing for the elderly and the type of living
arrangements for the elderly, such as rooming in with
family members or non family arrangements, are the
topics of continuing public debate.

Laws 1993) convincingly argues that ageist senti¬
ments and public policy created and continue to craft
an urban landscape that segregates and concentrates
the elderly in very specific spaces. Historically such
places have included workhouses and almshouses, but
now they include nursing homes, assisted living facil¬
ities and state- sponsored chronic care facilities. The
development of such concentrations in places and
spaces that were generally viewed in a negative light,
contends Laws 1993), aided the association of old age
with inactivity, poverty, disease and social isolation. In
some Swiss cities, this too, is an issue. In the City of
Basel, for example, there is a large concentration of
retirement homes in that part of town locally called
the « Lower Basel » that generally has a poor image

a high proportion of foreigners, redevelopment sites
need for special urban planning measures).

The « greying » of the suburbs particularly in North
America and the construction of retirement communi¬
ties, along with the increased exploitation of the senior
market Sawchuck 1995; Moschis et al. 1997) has
caused not only the re- distribution of the older popu¬
lation but has also promoted the construction of more
positive images of old age. Such images depict older
people as happy and healthy members of society, sur¬
rounded by friends, with money to spend and the
energy to spend it. McHugh 2000) argues forcefully
however that the use of such images to describe later
life, though apparently positive, is still troubling. Large
or small, retirement communities still segregate older
people. Old age is therefore still seen as a distinct part
of the life course that is associated with specific spaces.
Echoing Emerson, old age still has « fit surroundings » ;
its just that those surroundings are now more pleas¬
ant places. Whereas this is true for the North American
context where ageing is « big business » the same is
not exactly true in the European and Swiss contexts.
In the Swiss context, ageing is not « big business » and
older consumers remain underserved. This is especially
true for private sector housing. While many older Swiss
are quite able to afford market rate housing and pri¬
vate housing that has been adapted to meet the specific
needs of older people supply remains tight.



Retirement Communities and Housing for the Elderly Susan Lucas, Rita Schneider- Sliwa 259

The collection of papers on Retirement Commu¬
nities and Housing for the Elderly in this special
edition of Geographica Helvetica includes a wide
range of multidisciplinary research based in Canada,
the United States and Switzerland. The papers pre¬
sented examine indirectly the spatial distribution of
the elderly and at the same time the meaning of the
residential environments in which the elderly chose
to live or are obligated to live because of declining
health, limited financial resources or the availability
of suitable housing. The examination of the spatial
distribution of the elderly population provided by
this edition of Geographica Helvetica is indirect as
none of the papers purposefully describe patterns of
concentration based on age, yet all focus on one of
the locations in which the elderly have become con¬
centrated and therefore in totality partially describe
where the elderly live. It is necessary however to put
a caveat on such a claim by reading the papers
presented it is easy to get the impression that the
largest proportion of elderly population lives in age¬
segregated environments as Horne indicates in his
paper, this is not the case. Most older people age in
their own homes, and this is the same in the United
States and in Switzerland.

In the first paper in this collection Susan Lucas
examines the images used to sell and represent retire¬
ment communities. Promotional brochures produced
for potential residents by retirement communities are
used to determine if and to what extent the notions
of successful ageing, defined as the ability to maintain
the activity patterns and values of middle age and
agelessness are used to market this particular type
of age- segregated residential environment. The results
show that most of the images used in the retirement
community promotional pamphlets describe either the
physical environment of each community or the rec¬
reational and social amenities available to residents.
Images that epitomize successful ageing and ageless¬
ness occur almost as frequently and are often mixed
with detailed accounts of busy active residents partic¬
ipating in leisure activities, travelling to local attrac¬
tions, or eating in nearby restaurants. References to
the physical and mental decline that often accompa¬
nies older age are almost totally absent. When age
related decline is mentioned the references are subtle
and indirect.

William R. Horne begins his examination of where
seniors move in Brandon, Manitoba by briefly dis¬
cussing the reasons for and timing of such moves.
Income, the level of care needed, familial situation,
desire and options available all determine where
seniors move. The timing of the move is determined
by the timing of the retirement decision, loss of a
spouse, difficulty in meeting maintenance costs and

changes in the ability of the homeowner to care for
themselves in a large single family dwelling. Hornes
analysis shows that the options available to seniors
who do not move into a care facility or remain in
the single family home, are to move to a condomin¬
ium, mobile home or rental accommodation. Rental
options available to seniors are identified as non¬
profit housing, public housing, in the form of apart¬
ments provided by the Manitoba Housing Authority
and private apartments. The most popular option is
for seniors to remain in their own homes. Purchasing
a condominium or mobile home is also popular. The
differing location of the housing options available to
Brandon residents means that Hornes paper inad¬
vertently provides information about the spatial dis¬
tribution of Brandons elderly population. Most of
the housing options available to seniors are located
close to downtown. More mobile residents who still
want a detached owned dwelling can move into a
mobile home in a park located just a few kilometres
from downtown.

Based on narrative interviews and participant observa¬
tions Lisa Curch provides a detailed discussion about
the social and environmental factors that affect dietary
behaviours among older female residents living in one
age- segregated facility. In general, the results show that
the provision of meals in a central dining room both
liberated the women from food preparation respon¬
sibilities and constrained their eating behaviour by
removing some of the control they had traditionally
exercised over what, where and when they ate. Influ¬
ences on dietary behaviour that resulted from mobil¬
ity problems or the stigma attached to the use of assis¬
tive devices were grouped together as « person factors »
and included the problems some residents experienced
walking to the dining room and the fact that some
residents disliked assistive devices being brought into
the dining room. Sharing a meal with friends in the
dining room provided considerable opportunity for
social interaction that was welcomed by most resi¬
dents. As the environment in which residents ate the
dining room provided a point of contrast with meals
prepared in residents apartments. Most female resi¬
dents cooked only simple meals in their apartments as
a result of the provision of food in the dining room and
most had never used their oven.

In her study « Retirement Housing in Geneva » Mar¬
tine Freedman examines the determinants of segre¬
gation among the elderly in retirement apartments.
Whereas some factors point to personal circumstances,
such as the inability to adapt to new situations, there
are often determinants that are within the domain of
architectural planning. The interplay between micro or
individual level factors and the macro context of plan¬
ning sheds new light on the importance of participa-



260 Geographica Helvetica Jg. 59 2004/ Heft 4

tory planning that would involve the elderly or their
associations to a greater degree in the design of pri¬
vate sector, adapted housing.

The issue of participation in the design of adapted
housing for the elderly is also taken up by Rita Schnei-der-

Sliwa. In her study of 3248 persons between the
ages of 65- 85, elderly people in the Cantons of Basel-
City and Basel- Country Switzerland) are questioned
as to their preferences regarding living location, possi¬
ble residential requirements, size and type of housing/
apartments and living arrangements. The results reflect
not only the opinions but the whole life and lifestyle of
the so- called older generation. Because of the current
independent lifestyle of the elderly and their desire to
continue living in a familiar manner and form, the fact
that independence is greater respected in society than
dependence, the need for respect of the individual and
the importance of social cohesion, all possible mea¬
sures should be taken to ensure mobility and provi¬
sion of services geared towards the elderly, as well as
the preservation of housing arrangements and/ or suf¬
ficient living space in old age, an area in which the City
Canton of Basel has many options for action.

Valesca Zaugg, Joris E. Van Wezemael and André
Odermatt take up this argument of the specific needs
of elderly and point to the role in the housing market
in generating corresponding supply. Just as the demand
for certain type of housing is changing with age, so
too, should the supply side respond. According to the
authors, this is, however, questionable. They approach
the issue of housing supply from the investors per¬
spective which pursues differential strategies with
respect to the ageing society. Whereas non profit inves¬
tors pursue social aims and are very much orientated
towards the elderly, the commercial developers are
by and large not interested in investing into adapted
housing for the elderly. It is rather the young families
that are targeted. Thus, the megatrend of demographic
ageing is not accompanied by a similar trend in the
housing supply side which attests to market inefficien¬
cies and to the role of the public sector in providing
incentives for private builders.

References
Achenbaum, W. A. 1978): Old age in the New Land.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Laws, G. 1993): « The land of old age » : Societys chang¬
ing attitudes toward built environments for elderly
people. In: Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 83: 672- 693.
McHugh, K. E. 2000): The « ageless self » Emplace¬
ment of identities in Sun Belt retirement communities.

In: Journal of Aging Studies 14: 103- 115.
Moschis, G., Euehun, L. & A. Mather 1997): Target¬
ing the mature market: Opportunities and challenges.

In: Journal of Consumer Marketing 14: 282- 294.
Sawchuck, K. A. 1995): From gloom to boom: Age,
identity and target marketing. In: Featherstone,
M. & A. Wernick eds): Images of Aging: Cultural
Representations of Later Life. London: Routledge:
173- 187.

Susan Lucas, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Department
of Geosciences, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania,
230 Scotland Road, Edinboro, PA 16444, U. S. A.
e- mail: slucas@ edinboro. edu

Prof. Dr. Rita Schneider- Sliwa, Geographisches Institut
der Universität Basel, Abteilung Humangeographie /
Stadt- und Regionalforschung, Klingelbergstrasse 27,
CH- 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
e- mail: Rita. Schneider- Sliwa@ unibas. ch


	Retirement communities and housing for the elderly : editorial to the special issue