Social interaction in circulation spaces of elderly care institutions
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Date
2017
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Journal Title
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Publisher
Instituto Superior Tecnico, Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Georrecursos
Access Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
Abstract
The world is getting older; according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2050 the expected population of people over 60 is estimated reach around two billion. Both because of the aging population and the changing family compositions, in today's society elderly care institutions have become the preferred living spaces. Therefore it is pertinent that the relationship between spatial configuration and socio-behavioural patterns of the elderly be examined and clarified for the benefit of users and future designs of such institutions. According to Lawton and Nahemow's Ecological Theory of Adaptation and Aging (1973), interactions between behavioural and perceptual responses of users in a spatial configuration play a crucial role in the formation of the environment. The physical configuration can be transformed into a new setting, where the hard programmed circulation spaces gain fluidity enabling a softer medium. As a part of a dissertation, it has been previously observed that circulation spaces are among these softer environments where users may change the functional layout according to their preferences. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine the social interaction of residents in the circulation spaces of two elderly care institutions. The case study has been conducted with a total of sixty elderly users, where their behavioural modes and usage frequencies are observed along with the collection of their socio-demographic data by face to face interviews. Outcomes of the behavioural and syntactic data are analysed and compared through simple regression correlations. Consequently, it is seen that two different spatial configurations have both adaptive and non-adaptive determinants on the spatial behaviour. For example, in one institution, social interaction needs of the residents have led them to transform circulation spaces into social gathering areas, where socio-petal functional usage frequency complies with syntactic outcomes. On the other hand, the second institution strictly follows the rules of predesigned functions even though syntactic outcomes point out deeper spaces. These results imply that different spatial configurations have different effects on the behaviour and perceptions of the elderly, which can be transferred into future investments and designs of care institutions to ensure the comfort of this age group.
Description
11th International Space Syntax Symposium, SSS 2017 -- 3 July 2017 through 7 July 2017 -- -- 130741
Keywords
Adjustment., Circulation spaces, Elderly care institutions, Social interaction
Journal or Series
Proceedings - 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, SSS 2017
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