In the context of an ageing world, theories on welfare regimes as well as their influence on architecture for ageing come of relevance. The key mechanism in these theories is the perceived level of decommodification in society, i.e. various financial measures that the individual subject initiates personally in order to prepare for different stages in his/ her life: bringing up children, education, health and sickness, professional career or retiring from professional life. One concrete measure is special accommodations for dependent and frail older people, here termed residential care homes (RCH). Decommodification is supposedly most developed in welfare regimes originating from social democratic values, similar to Nordic countries, like Denmark, Norway and Sweden. During the 20^th century, these countries have used architectural competitions in order to harmonize socio-political ideals with the architectural realization of RCHs. The present study explores the organizational forms of 77 architectural competitions that were organized in these countries during the period 2000-2011. A sub-sample of 9 competition programmes, three from each country, were analyzed concerning the presence of welfare goals and other prerequisites for the design task in the programming brief. The sample was assembled through key word searches in open and restricted databases. Based on the full sample, restricted competitions appeared as the most used form for RCH competitions. The sub-sample suggested that language and ideological capital, originating from the realization of the Nordic welfare state, adds an additional restriction. Hence, the overall conclusion suggests that that existing socio-political ideals for architecture for the dependent and frail aging process tends to block the integration of international findings on universal space for ageing well. 

In September 2015, the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The key concept of the seventeen development goals (SDG) is focused on balancing humanity’s consumption of earthly natural resources, however, three older concepts are integral components of this transition. In 2008, the UN Convention on equal rights for people with disabilities (UN CRPD) entered into force, ratified by eighty-two countries. This convention forwards three concepts for creating an inclusive society, i.e., accessibility, usability, and universal design thinking. Accessibility is primarily referring to physical measures that will make buildings and the built environment accessible to people with disabilities by removing built barriers. Usability highlights the need for aligning the conception of buildings and the built environment to actual users with their different abilities. Universal design refers to integrating considerations for a multitude of users with various abilities in the early conception of generating images for new architecture and built environment.Since 2010, the European Union has integrated the goals of both the UN CRPD and the Agenda 2030 in different policy programs. Addressing the issue of ageing and disabilities, the EU commission is preparing for a law on accessibility and usability requirements in transports and public buildings. The law is combined with a special European standard on requirements for adjusting existing or programming new types of built environment. It is the public environment that is in focus, however, built space for communal usages also comes of relevance, for instance elevators, stairwells and communal space for laundry, storage, and similar functions in residential architecture. The present study is focused on a research study that explored the contemporaneous meaning of the concepts of accessibility and usability. Some 125 expert respondents involved in national and international work of converting accessibility and usability requirements into were approached with a questionnaire on the matter. The response rate was 51 per cent, including both correctly filled out questionnaires and refraining answers that argued that the questionnaire should be sent to another group of respondents due to professional grounds.A sub-set of fifteen questions placed the concepts of accessibility and usability in three specific contexts: Firstly, relating the concepts to exemplary models of built space that fulfilled these requirements. Secondly, associating the concepts with latest information technologies as means for solving these requirements, and, thirdly, connecting residential architecture to two years of home confinement due to COVID restrictions. The respondents were found in seven European countries and two non-European countries. Disappointingly, the result indicated that the concepts had obtained a fixed meaning that prioritized a technical aspect rather than the essential outcome of an accessible and usable design. In addition, the few concrete examples of exemplary models were all found in the public environment. The study supplies a ground for formulating an overarching question – what does accessible residential architecture in the sustainable society look like?

In Sweden, the search for an appropriate space for accommodating dependent older people can be associated with the construction of the development of the modern welfare society. Despite different political paradigms, the notion of a comfortable ageing process in a familiar home environment, complemented by individualized caregiving, has become the dominant idea for architecture for the frail ageing process. This study explores the evolution of this particular aesthetics by examining six architectural competitions that were organized during the period from 1907 to 2012. These competitions served as research material. The documentation of each of these competitions was subjected to a close-reading and drawing-analysis procedure. Being national, these competitions forged the positive connotations of the locus of home into aesthetical criteria for a normative homelikeness, which was implemented by the Swedish municipalities. In the course of time, homelikeness has changed from an emotional understanding into an approach for architectural critique. Based on the six competitions, this study postulates that the aesthetics of homelikeness involves the following aspects: 1) small-scale buildings with interior space that is designed for communal or individual usage; 2) small-scale buildings in a large-scale configuration with space for individual and communal use; 3) integration in and location to surrounding areas for residential use; 4) exploration of sensory aspects of the indoor and the outdoor environment that the architectural design created; and 5) architectural design promoting the individual process of appropriating it into becoming a locus of home.

An assisted living residence with identical layout for two non-special care units (NSCU) and twospecial care units (SCU), designated as an exemplary model, was used as a test bed for this study on elderlypeople’s spatial appropriation of communal space. Using qualitative research methods (interviews,participatory observations, TESS-NH), eighteen residents’ spatial usages were mapped. Thereafter, tenresidents with dominantly somatic diseases were interviewed as to their appreciation and use of thecommunal space. Using the same qualitative interviewing guide, three staff members were interviewed inrelation to eight persons with dementia. The collected data was analyzed by use of the Lynchean imageabilitypentad. Depending on the residents’ age-related problem and the specific conditions in situ, the elderlypersons’ spatial usages of the individual unit could be described graphically in a mental map. A place-makingprocess was the motivating force behind this spatial appropriation, conditioned by age-related problems. Atthe NSCUs, the elderly spurred this process themselves by developing a pattern consisting of movementstowards places open for activities, contact and social interaction. On the other hand, at the SCUs, thedementia diagnosis affected this pattern. At these units, the movements and the places depended upon theelderly person’s dependency on the staff for self-affirmation and calm. The overarching conclusion of thisstudy is that an appropriate architectural space for an assisted living residence reinforces the place-makingprocess, either the one of the elderly frail people, or the one staged by the staff. Besides generalrequirements of accessibility, functionality, and usability, this type of architecture needs to employ spatialelements that constitute a communal space that fosters an appropriative process based on the sensuousstimulation exploitable at a particular place. Thus, architecture acquires a supportive quality that nourishesthe perceived homeliness by the elderly people themselves, or as staged by the staff.

In Denmark, appropriate architecture for aging is an engaging topic, often explored through the use of architectural competitions. Since 2013, national guidelines for homelike architecture for eldercare have been in place, open for use in contemporaneous competitions. This study is focused on architectural competitions prior to 2013 and the development of modern architecture for aging. Based on reports on competitions in professional publications for architects, this study covers the period of 1899–2012. Inspired by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s view of architecture as a spatial practice that ‘does not invoke what no longer is there but what has become through what is no longer present’, the present study revisits competitions on architecture for aging in search of inspirational input and links to the national socio-political discussion. This study uses case study methodology with a mixed method approach. A total of 76 competitions are identified, mainly organized by Danish municipalities, and are linked to four paradigms in social legislations. It is concluded that early competitions defined spatial prototypes, both for the homelike setting and the institutional environment, which have been continuously revisited. Since 2008, homelikeness has become the main design criterion for architecture for the frail aging population with an increasing dependency on caregiving.

This doctoral thesis deals with the type of architecture that materializes when age-related problems become a long-term condition (LTC) and gradually restrain the individual’s ability to perform activities in daily life (ADL). Their life situation necessitates a support from relatives or municipal eldercare staff in order for them to continue to participate in everyday living. In addition, the architectural space requires a close adjustment to the personal panorama of cognitive or functional impairments. The habitat can be a flat appropriated many years previously or in a residential care home for dependent and frail seniors. Architecture for ageing with dependency demonstrates how space can be used either to affirm or oppress the older person’s attempts to maintain an independent life style. By use of design theory, case study methodology and a heterogeneous research strategy, this study uses a threefold approach—a retrospective, a contemporaneous, and a future-oriented approach—to explore frail older people’s interaction with the architectural space of residential care homes. This has resulted in seven papers that focus on aspects of these human interactions with the built environment. Based on twelve exemplary models, the research paper I concludes that national guidelines result in a homelike, a hotel-like or a hospital-like environment. Research paper II is a retrospective study that examines the use of architecture competitions as a socio-political instrument to define architectural guidelines. Research paper III focuses on dependent seniors’ spatial appropriation of the communally shared space of a ward in a residential care home. Research paper IV employs two environmental assessment methods from the architecture profession and gerontological research (TESS-NH) in order to evaluate the use of interior colouring when refurbishing two residential care homes while the residents remained in place. Research paper V displays a municipal organizer’s considerations to opt for an architecture competition as a means of renewing architecture for the ageing population. Research paper VI examines competition documentation of three municipal architecture competitions organized during the period of 2006 to 2009. Research paper VII, the final study, explores notions concerning the appropriate space for ageing found among a group of municipal representatives, and people from organizations defending older people’s right. It supplies a model for understanding the appropriate space for ageing. This study illustrates the absence of older people with frailties in the public discussion about appropriate architecture for ageing. During the 20th century, the multi-dimensional idea of an architectural space with a homelike appearance has been used to contrast the negatively charged opposite—the complete and austere institution. The overarching conclusion of this study is that architecture for dependent and frail seniors constitutes a particular type of built space that requires an extended dialogue involving dependent seniors, architects, building contractors and care planners in order to conceive appropriate architecture for the ageing society.

In 2012, three architectural competitions were held as part of the strategic programme 'Living Well, Growing Old', launched by the Swedish government in 2010. The intention was to use the innovative quality of the architectural competition in order to conceive future-oriented built environments for the ageing Swedish society. In Sweden, several architectural competitions with a focus on space for dependent and frail older people have been organised over the past century. Architectural design has been incorporated into reforms for social care of older people. This study focuses on the relationship between architecture and sociopolitical visions in three architectural competitions, realised in 1997, 1948 and 1979. The study demonstrates that architectural competitions within this field are more than a list of functional and spatial requirements for architects to respect. Instead, they are socio-political statements that define spatial frameworks within an ideological view on how ethically to provide care for dependent and frail older people in a welfare regime.

In the context of an ageing world, the theory of welfare regimes as well as the type of architecture that is an outcome of the influence of this theory becomes pertinent. It is based on the perceived level of decommodification in society, i.e. various financial measures that the individual has to initiate in order to prepare for different stages in life: bringing up children, education, health and sickness, professional career, and retirement. Residential care homes (RCH) accommodate elderly and dependent persons. The highest level of decommodification is found in the social-democratic welfare regime represented by the three Nordic countries, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The present study explores the programming of RCH in these countries and the architectonic conception of the same by use of architecture competitions. The research material includes competitions realized during the period of 2000 to 2011, and the sample has been accumulated through internet searches. The competition documentation has been subjected to “close reading.” The full sample, consisting of 78 competitions, has allowed for establishing the organizational forms that are used in the three Nordic competitions. A sub-sample of nine competition programs, three from each country, has permitted a detailed analysis of the design assignment. The preliminary conclusion of the study suggests that the socio-political ideas that adhere to the realization of the welfare regime and the resulting type of architecture for ageing with dependency are maintained at the expense of the integration into the system of international findings on a universal space for ageing.

Barriers in the built environment exclude people with disabilities from participating independently in the surrounding society. Since the mid-1960s, architectural designs have been subject to special regulations in the Swedish building code, originally focusing on access for wheelchair users to public buildings. In the mid-1970s, this focus converged with the first Swedish disability policy and “accessibility for people with locomotory or cognitive problems” of the building code was coined. Building initiatives by organisations in defence of the rights of people with disabilities and documentaries of living conditions for this group prepared for this development. The present study revisits two cases of the 1950s and 1960s that opened for a rethinking of architectural and residential space for frail older people and appropriate housing for young people with mobility impairments. The study uses close reading and critical analyses of textual documentation in combination with spatial analyses of drawings to retrace the awaking among Swedish architects of the need of accessibility in the built environment (Brummett 2010, Lefebvre 1985, Miles and Hubermann 1994). The study suggests that accessible architecture requires user involvement and participatory processes to conceive spatiality that is usable by people with disabilities. At the same time, consultation with people disabilities about design aspects promoting accessibility is threatened by the current Swedish housing crisis and allegations that accessibility requirements would increase building costs. 

References: 

Brummett, B. 2010. Techniques of close reading. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles.

Lefebvre, H. 1985. La production de l'espace. [The production of space]. Anthropos, Paris.

Miles, M. and Hubermann, A. 1994. Qualitative data analysis. SAGE Publications Inc., London.

Since mid 19th century, approximately seventy-two architecture competitions have been organized in Sweden with a focus on space for dependent senior persons. On three occasions, in 1907, 1948 and in 1979, these competitions were used to promote new architectural thinking and to prepare for a reform of existing social legislation. Starting with two research questions—firstly, what kind of architectural space did the competition documents of these competitions (competition briefs, jury assessment reports and submitted competition entries) define as appropriate for eldercare; and, secondly, did the use of the architecture competition renew thinking about appropriate space for frail older people—this study explores the architectonic realization and the political vision for social work. The study argues the presence of a link between the competition documentations and the ruling welfare typology at the time of the competition. The architecture competition defined guidelines consistent with these paradigms concerning the appropriate space and social work for ageing with chronic conditions. These guidelines designated small-scaled architecture with homelike connotations as the appropriate one for ageing with frailties. The study lends support to an overarching conclusion that the architecture competition influences cultural beliefs about social work and space for dependent ageing since the competition brief encapsulates a political vision that the participating architects interpret spatially. This has led to the progressive realization during the 20th century of the individualized space for dependent seniors.

This paper focuses on an architecture competition for the silver generation, namely those aged 65 years and older. Twenty-seven Swedish informants were interviewed using an interviewing guide that included a photographic survey. The informants emphasised aesthetic dimensions in architecture for the prolongation of ageing in place and independent living in a residential home. This study highlights the individual adjustment of space, and the integrated location in existing urban settings near nature. Based on the findings, a habitational model for exploring the appropriate space for ageing is formulated. It suggests that architecture through location and spatial features needs to generate positive associations with the users.

This paper focuses on an architecture competition for the silver generation, namely those aged 65 years and older. Twenty-seven Swedish informants were interviewed using an interviewing guide that included a photographic survey. The informants emphasised aesthetic dimensions in architecture for the prolongation of ageing in place and independent living in a residential home. This study highlights the individual adjustment of space, and the integrated location in existing urban settings near nature. Based on the findings, a habitational model for exploring the appropriate space for ageing is formulated. It suggests that architecture through location and spatial features needs to generate positive associations with the users.

Often described as frozen music, architecture functions as a fixation agent for contemporaneous or past thinking on appropriate space for embarking on or ending a journey. This type of architecture becomes visual to its essence. It interacts with the human capacity of seeing in order to be perceived correctly. The spatial design describes the progression from the immobile built environment, which surrounds the embarkation space, to the means of transportation: air planes, buses or trains.

Orientational cues inside the embarkation space may give people with cognitive or functional disabilities some indication on how to access the infrastructure. These cues include colour coding, tactile cues, illumination and signage. These are supposed to facilitate way-finding from various key points in the embarkation space like from the entrance to the check-in counter, or to assisted services. Sound insulation is often overlooked as an orientational cue, thus, creating a vibrant soundscape of callouts, voices and mechanical installations.

Tactile cues may inhibit or promote this user group’s independent use of this type of space: Fixed to the built environment, tactile cues become subject to conflicting interests due to maintenance and usage of the embarkation space. The present study investigates the effectiveness of orientational cues in architecture for mobility. The study was based on a literature review of 200 scientific papers. These papers were extracted by use of key word searches in four databases (Ebsco, Jstor, Sciencedirect and Scopus). The study proposes a set of conclusions, which tactile cues in architectural space for mobility have to respect in order to be useful for people with visual impairments.

Often described as frozen music, architecture functions as a fixation agent for contemporaneous or past thinking on appropriate space for embarking on or ending a journey. The underlying conceptualization of this space relies on study visits to exemplary models or meticulous studies of drawings of space for mobility. This type of architecture becomes visual to its essence. It interacts with the human capacity of seeing in order to be perceived correctly. The spatial design describes the progression from the immobile built environment, which surrounds the embarkation space, to the means of transportation: air planes, buses or trains.

Orientational cues inside the embarkation space give indication on how to access the infrastructure. This includes colour coding, illumination and signage. Sound insulation as an orientational cues is often neglected, thus, creating a vibrant soundscape of callouts, voices and mechanical installations. In order to help people with reduced sight or visual impairments, tactile cues are integrated in the flooring. These are supposed to facilitate way-finding from various key points in the embarkation space like from the entrance to the check-in counter, or to assisted services.

The present study investigates the effectiveness of tactile cues in architecture for mobility. The study is based on interviews with people with visual problems and their experiences of Swedish architecture for mobility. This group of people often associate tactile cues with ambiguous spatial interpretations. Fixed to the built environment, tactile cues are subject to conflicting interests in maintenance and use of the embarkation space, which may inhibit or promote this user group’s independent use of this type of space. The study proposes a set of conclusions that tactile cues have to respect in order to be useful for people with visual impairments. 

Age is a delicate matter, but the Swedish welfare state is ageing and has an increasingly larger propor-tion of elderly people, about 19 per cent (Sweden Statistics, 2014). Since the election campaign in 2006, the matter of appropriate housing and caregiving for older frail persons has been a reoccurring item on the political agenda. Governmental delegations and programmes have ventured out into the great unknown territory of architectural experiences and age-related problems. However, one existing residential care home, in the following RCH, pops up as an exemplary and universal model for architec-ture and the frail ageing process, the residential care home of Vigs Ängar.Initiated as a mutual initiative in the early 1990s, between a local anthroposophical interest group and the municipality of Ystad, Sweden, its creation and existence describe a troublesome tension between legal frameworks, managerial systems for eldercare, facility management and idealistic visions for fu-ture-oriented caregiving. Despite a 20 year existence, this exemplary model has resulted in few similar facilities, both architecture-wise and eldercare-wise. Instead, a large number of national and interna-tional study visits have turned the building along with caregiving into an open smorgasbord consisting of architectural elements or therapeutic approaches, subject to free sampling and tasting. To some extent, the anthroposophical label has clouded the resilient approach in architectural design and care-giving for the frail stages in life.The focus of this paper was to go behind semantics and unravel the generating images that constitute the fundamental reason for the exemplary status of the RCH in question. Critical analysis has been applied as a research method in order to scrutinize documents and drawings that originate from the design process. Random conversations and interviews with various informants associated with the RCH, among which the architect, have been executed over the period 2007-2013. This study suggests that the key factor in this successful realization of an RCH is the solid idea for a resilient architecture. This idea encompasses both ephemeral and tangible experiences of space that structure both the older person’s quality in life as well as the individual staff member’s satisfaction with the work envi-ronment. In that sense, the RCH of Vigs Ängar is more of a spatial sensation than an anthroposophical epiphany.

In 2006, the Swedish municipality of Jaerfaella arranged an open architecturalcompetition focusing on future-oriented architectonic visions forelderly citizens. The location would be in a new residential area that wouldbe developed at a former airbase. The jury assessment report praised thetown plan in the winning Danish entry, but concluded that the majority ofthe thirty-three entries, including the winner, had designed rather conventionalhousing for elderly citizens who would have need of daily assistanceand care. This paper is based upon findings in a single case study, andfocuses on the municipal organizer’s decision-making process in arrangingan open municipal architectural competition. The research material consistedof interviews, offcial records, drawings and other relevant documentationof the process. The collected research material implied that the organizationof an architectural competition in a Swedish municipality is a vivavoce process, where spoken arguments are summarized in writing. Havingdelimited the case study, structured and thematic questions were designedfor use in interviews with a sample of thirty interviewees. The thematicsection of questions was inspired by the French Photolanguage method,and was used to discuss an important Swedish principle for creating a senseof homeliness for the frail elderly. Twelve interviewees were then identifiedas key informants and their statements were correlated with offcialrecords, drawings and other documentation. The analysis of the researchmaterial called for a guiding theory of discourses integrated into architectureas a field of practice. Based upon the guiding theory, six theoreticalconclusions were formulated: 1) The municipal organizer used divergentdiscourses to assess the feasibility of an open architectural competition; 2)The discourses were shaped by personal experiences with built environmentsfiltered through an individual profession-based framework; 3) Therewere five different discourses: a planning-based, a visionary, an ethical, anda conceptual discourse, all of which interacted with a human-spatial bounddiscourse on ageing and architecture; 4) A concept of integration open forinterpretation unified the five discourses and furthered the possibility ofan architectural competition. The concept was understood differently inthe five discourses; 5) The motives for a competition were connected tothe possibility to market the municipality. 6) The main principle of theSwedish concept of homeliness needs further defining to generate strongerguidelines for architecture.

En 2006 le gouvernement suédois a alloué des ressources aux nouveaux établissements d’hébergement de personnes âgées et dépendantes (EHPAD), étant donné que le nombre d’appartements avait baissé de quinze pour cent. L’architecture suédoise d’EHPAD est soumise à des lignes directrices de conception promouvant l’idée d’un habitat accueillant : l’appartement est à considérer comme un domicile dans le logement ordinaire mais une partie de la superficie pour cuisiner et agir socialement est transférée à un espace commun. A propos de l’EHPAD, la Direction nationale de la santé et des affaires sociales (DNSAS) a découvert un manque de statistiques. De plus, l’effet des lignes directrices sur l’architecture d’EHPAD n’est pas évalué. Basée sur un échantillon de douze modèles de logements EHPAD, cette étude analyse leur effet sur l’espace architectural. On peut identifier trois scénarios conceptuels, montrant que les lignes directrices engendrent des environnements caractérisés comme habitat privé, hôtel ou hôpital.

In 2006 the Swedish government allocated funding for the construction of new residential homes for frail elderly seniors. The number of flats available had dropped by fifteen per cent. Swedish architecture for residential homes is instructed by conceptual guidelines that foreground the ideal of home-likeness: The flats in residential homes are like flats in ordinary housing complexes but with the distinction that a partition of space for preparing meals and socializing is transferred to a communal space. The National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) have detected a lack of statistics concerning residential homes. Moreover, the influence of the guidelines on the realized architecture has never been evaluated. Based on a sample of twelve exemplary residential homes this study analyses the impact of the guidelines on architectural space. Three design scenarios have been identified that suggest that the guidelines create an environment that could be described as home-like, hotel-like or hospital-like.

Hur kan man skapa den bästa miljön på ett äldreboende? Hur kan man förvandla det institutionella intrycket till en miljö som man kan trivas som hemma i? / How to create the best possible environment for frail older people in residential housing? How to convert the institutional impression to an environment in which you experience homelikeness?: Byggandet av framtidssäkra äldreboenden och exempel på evidensbaserad design. / The building of future-oriented residential housing and examples of evidence-based design.

The quest to make Sweden accessible for all has a long tradition. Stemmingfrom initiatives of charitable organisations in the early 20th century,accessibility became a physical requirement through the Swedish buildingact of the 1960s. It promoted a type of physical barrier-free architecturefor the welfare state. The socio-political ambitions of the 1970s propelledSweden to become a world-leading nation in the creation of equalopportunities and social inclusion. Architectural design was expected tomeet the demands of people with cognitive, physical or sensory disabilitiesand, on signing the UN convention on equal rights for persons withdisabilities in 2007, existing legislative frameworks were complementedwith additional guidelines on removing physical barriers. By focusing onthe national tripartite definition of accessibility, Sweden has paid littleattention to the development of the universal design concept. Instead,accessibility has been associated with the elusive concept of usability inorder to promote a user-environment fit. Since 2013, the increasing shortageof housing in densely populated areas has impeded work to createan accessible and inclusive welfare state and has fostered the notionthat accessibility increases building costs. This study provides an overviewof the Swedish development of accessibility in order to promoteparticipation and social inclusion by removing physical barriers in thebuilt environment and introducing user-oriented assistive technologies.

Kommunala besluts- och planeringsprocesser omfattar till olika grad särskilda åtgärder (kompensation), som syftar till att moderera konsekvenserna av en föreslagen förändring på befintliga värden i kultur- eller naturmiljö. Förutom det etablerade samrådsförfarandet, som beskrivs i Plan- och Bygglagen, PBL (SFS 2010:900), aktiveras två andra lagrum, dels Kulturmiljölagen, KML (SFS1988:950), som värnar värden i kulturmiljöer, dels Miljöbalken, MB (SFS1998:808), som skyddar värden i naturmiljöer. Medan PBL och KML hanterar kulturmiljövärden under allmänna skrivningar om hänsyn och varsamhet i förhållande till omgivande bebyggelse, innehåller MB tydliga föreskrifter att påtagliga skador på riksintressanta kultur- och naturmiljövärden ska balanseras genom kompensatoriska strategier. Denna obalans skapar en otydlighet i hanteringen av kulturmiljövärden i kommunala besluts- och planeringsprocesser.

     Inom ramen för ett forskningsprojekt kring begreppen kompensation och styrmedel, finansierat under 2014 av Riksantikvarieämbetet, RÄA, inbjöds sju planerare med erfarenhet av kommunal planering till en workshop för att diskutera begreppens innebörd närmare. Workshoppen genomfördes på Arkitekturskolan, KTH, och i diskussionen deltog även åtta deltagare, knutna till forskningsprojektet. Deltagarnas professionella bakgrund var en form av en arkitektkompetens: 4 deltagare var utbildade till arkitekt med specialisering på hus- eller stadsbyggnad, 2 landskapsarkitekter, 1ingenjör, 2 deltagare var arkeologer samt 1 bebyggelseantikvarie. Fem deltagare hade forskarkompetens inom arkeologi, arkitektur och samhällsplanering. Syftet med workshoppen var att diskutera praktikens förståelse av begreppen i olika kommunal besluts- och planeringsprocesser. Som ett pedagogiskt exempel användes besluts- och planeringsprocessen för åren 2009-2013 kring Ångfärjestationen i Helsingborg, belägen i Stortorgets förlängning och med utsikt över sundet. Kompensation och styrmedel diskuterades under 5 timmar i två olika sammanhang, dels deltagarnas egna tidigare erfarenheter av sådana kompensatoriska åtgärder, dels speglat genom den utvalda skånska fallstudien.

     Workshoppen ger underlag för fem huvudsakliga slutsatser kring kompensation och styrmedel i samband med kulturmiljövärde i kommunala besluts- och planeringsprocesser: (1) Begreppen är beroende av ett sammanhang, en kontext, för att bli användbara och operationella. (2) Kompensation och styrmedel är mindre kända i förhållande till besluts- och planeringsprocesser, som handlar om ingrepp i bebyggelsemiljöer med kulturmiljövärden. (3) Kompensation och styrmedel avseende kulturmiljö behöver skräddarsys genom ett scenariotänkande, som lyfter fram konsekvenser av att anpassa eller bevara kulturmiljövärden i en förändringssituation. (4) Kompensation och styrmedel hänger samman med en problematik som måste bearbetas från de tidigaste skedena av en kommunal besluts- och planeringsprocess. (5) Kompensation sträcker sig från att vara rena ekonomiska transaktioner för förlust av värden till sin enklaste form, till att bli kompensatoriska styrmedel, som detaljerar användning och utformning av bebyggelse inom en intressant kulturmiljö på en övergripande nivå. 

Tillgänglighet och användbarhet i arkitektur och byggd miljö är avgörande för jämlik stadsplanering. Jonas E. Andersson, arkitekt och docent i arkitektonisk gestaltning tittar på olika sätt som planerar kan skapa en mer användarvänlig miljö och visar på några historiska misslyckande som lett till mer otillgängliga byggnader och städer. Kan legato, en italiensk musikterm för en slät övergång, hjälpa framtidens planerare att tänka holistiskt i sitt planerande för tillgängliga och användbara byggda miljöer?

Since 2015, the Swedish disability policy promotes a universally designed built environment as an ideal to reach for future building and physical planning. Breaking with an almost 50-year tradition of arguing for an accessible and usable built environment, the concept of universal design has come to supersede the old twin concept of accessibility and usability, in the following AU. Latently, this change may refer to the dual face of the AU concept: When programming AU for the built environment, architects or other similar professions focus on the identification of momentary obstacles for horizontal or vertical access to the inside of the building from the outside, or vice versa. However, while using the built environment, users focus on an accessible and usable pathway from the inside of the building to the outside, or vice versa.Common for both actors are the strive to create a series of horizontal or vertical movements that allow for accessing or egressing the building. Active in this thinking also lies an associational approach towards the built environment by the users, who expect a sequential type of AU. On the other hand, architects tend to use a perceptual approach to identify potential conflicts in the usage of the built environment, which results in a momentary identification of AU (Rapoport, 1978). In a similar manner, architects often tend to act as non-disabled proxies for potential users with disabilities, while users interact with the built environment with their disabilities and the level of AU that is provided. To narrow the gap between the two players, the traditional way of teaching AU to architects, engineers and other designers has been to implement full-scale try-outs with students with mostly fully abled bodies simulating disabilities by blocking sensory information and using assistive devices like wheelchairs, cains and rollers.There is a logical error in such training since skill in using assistive devices as a prolongation of the individual body is reduced to not being valuable. Problems in the realisation of AU in the built environment might be attributable to this lacune in knowledge and ultimately discriminatory approach towards people with disabilities. An opposite way of teaching AU for architects, engineers and other designers would be to combine the experiment with using assistive devices with listening to how people with disabilities experience appropriate and poor AU, thus, promoting an aggregated knowledge.

Befolkningsprognoser framtill 2060 visar på en förändring i sammansättningen av befolkningen, där antalet personer i arbetsförålder minskar medan andelen äldre personer med ett möjligt ökande behov av omsorg och vård ökar. Det är ett pågående fenomen att andelen personer 65 år och äldre i befolkningen ökar i de flesta länder. I Europa intar Grekland, Italien och Tyskland tätplatserna med 19-20 procent av befolkningen. Sverige ligger på en fjärde plats med 18 procent. Övriga europeiska länder ligger några procentenheter lägre, mellan 11 till 17 procent, och de följer de förberedelser som de fyra länderna i täten vidtar på tröskeln till ett samhälle som karakteriseras av en stor andel personer i de övre åldersgrupperna. Ett sådant land är Spanien, där gruppen äldre personer 65 år och uppåt uppgår till ca 17 procent av befolkningen. Den demografiska förändringen i Spanien kommer att bli större än de prognoser som görs för Sverige: beroendeförhållandet (antal äldre person jämfört med personer i arbetsförålder) år 2050 uppskattas till 58,7 i Spanien mot 41,9 i Sverige.

This paper deals with the structure of the competition briefs used in three Swedish architectural competitions arranged by a public body and focusing on housing for dependent seniors. In Sweden, housing for elderly frail people is part of the municipal responsibility. The design of this type of housing is subject to recommendations found in the Swedish Social Services Act, which act as design criteria for the architectural space. The intention is to promote the sensation of a homelike and residential architectural space which supports an elderly person’s ability to take in and find his way in this particular space. A dilemma arises, since the Swedish Local Government Act allows these recommendations to be interpreted independently according to the principle of local self-government. The dilemmatic character is even further emphasized in the situation of an architectural competition, where the municipal organiser writes the competition brief, and to an equal extent has the need of both controlling and promoting the innovation of architectural space for dependent seniors. This paper has two purposes: I) to explore how the competition brief is used and perceived by the participating architects and its possible link to the jury assessment report. And II) to investigate how three Swedish municipal organisers have prepared and structured their competition briefs for use in an architectural competition focusing on the habitat for the elderly frail people in need of 24 hour assistance and care, or housing for senior citizens in general. This paper draws seven preliminary conclusions from the three case-studies executed in three different Swedish municipalities. During the period 2000 to 2009, this public body organised an architectural competition either on housing for elderly frail people in particular, or housing in general for independent or dependent senior citizens. The three competitions briefs had various discursive characters, which were related to the authorship and the design task. The successful competition brief has three clear objectives: to convey the organiser’s intentions; nourish the creative thinking of the participants; and to equip the jury members with solid arguments during the assessment process. The study support ground for a general conclusion: the competition brief is the fundamental document for a well executed architectural competition. It requires a thorough preparation in order to accurately define the design task, its perimeters, assessment criteria, jury composition and referential consultation process. This is a shared responsibility between the organiser and the national association of Architects.

Following upon the Stockholm exposition in 1930 and the introduction of a new aesthetical and architectural thinking, some Swedish building companies and real estate owners fully embraced the new ideal. They started to assemble their own socio-political welfare ambitions concerning housing with additional services into housing projects. From 1930 to the beginning of the Million Housing Project in 1965, innovative building projects by either of these players, especially in the larger Swedish cities like Gothenburg, Malmö, and Stockholm, were realized. The project targeted different user groups in different ages, with different social background and preferences, stretching from collective housing to individualized design solutions. In these projects, both aesthetics and architecture played an essential role as material and immaterial assets for promoting the new housing and the long-term management of the estate. An often-used term in colloquial Swedish for this type of building with subsequent real-estate management is the Master Builder’s Management model, in the following MBM model.The MBM model refers to a former legal requirement of the first national Swedish building act of 1874 that building entrepreneurs had to be approved by the municipal building administration as means to avoid overcrowding in poorly built housing. Even after the reform of the building act in 1931, the title was associated with great societal esteem, but achieved during the rest of the 20th century a connotation of being either obsolete or representing building quality. The MBM model is in stark contrast to management models that have evolved since the 1990s. These models are influenced by new public management in which the practical knowledge of building and maintenance becomes secondary to financial calculations and predictions.Nevertheless, the large majority of privately owned Swedish rental housing companies are managed according to principles that can associated with the MBM model. These principles suggest a continuous maintenance in line with the aesthetical and architectural vision, careful alignment between tenant profile and type of flat, and financial planning based on building degradation and local knowledge of market. The present study is focused on a housing company in the city of Malmö which openly adheres to the MBM model. Preliminary findings suggest that the choice of management model can be related to a personal view by the company owners that is motivated by an emotional attachment to the building craft and the building itself. The combination of architecture and an engaged ownership constitutes a complex system of agency in which maintenance, tenants and mutual connections creates a specific being-in-the-world-ness of real estate management. This phenomenon seems to be an essential factor for creating successful smaller rental housing companies that are mainly active on a local market.

Sweden has to prepare for a papy boom, a French term forthe increasing proportion of senior citizens in society, viz.those aged 65 years or older. This paper focuses on amunicipal organizer’s decision-making process to arrangean open, municipal architecture competition with the aim ofpromoting future-oriented architecture for senior citizens. Asample comprising twenty-seven informants (municipalemployees, political officials and other representatives)was selected, and these people were interviewed using aqualitative, interviewing guide. A section in the guideincluded a photograph compilation in order to encouragediscussion about both the competition brief and theSwedish guideline of hominess in architecture intended forelderly, frail people. The aim of this study was to explorenotions about the appropriate, future-oriented habitats ofthe aging population. Such findings describe spatialaspects possible to use as primary generators in anarchitectural design process, and to assist the creativework of architects, when they conceive new architectureand built environments for the future, aging society. Theresult of this study suggests that the photographcompilation was effective in defining twelve key aspects ofappropriate architecture for aging. The results of this studylend support to an overarching conclusion that theappropriate habitat for aging in the future society mustexploit the aesthetic and sensuous dimension ofarchitecture.

In western society, the homelike architecture is acknowledged as the ideal space for a dependent and older person. The realization of this space can be achieved by use of guidelines. These can be precise requirements to realize generally or conceptual criteria to reinvent individually. The open guideline creates a dilemma when an architecture competition is organized: The writing of a competition brief forces the organizer to define a preliminary set of goals for the participating architects to contemplate, but it equips this actor with preconceived views on what to be accomplished. In the competition situation, the main objective of the brief is to generate design solutions that go beyond the organizer’s expectation. Sweden uses open guidelines for space intended for dependent and frail people.

This paper has three purposes: I) to investigate how three public stakeholders prepare and structure their competition briefs for use in competitions focusing on the habitat for the older frail people and housing for senior citizens; II) to explore the participating architects’use of the competition brief; and III) to study the link between the brief and the jury assessment report. During the period 2000 to 2009, three public stakeholders organized architecture competitions that focused either on housing for dependent older frail people or on residential architecture for senior citizens with few frailties. These competitions constitute three case studies.

This paper draws seven preliminary conclusions: The successful competition brief conveys the organizer’s intentions; supplies ideas necessary for creative thinking, and fuels the subsequent assessment process. In addition, the competition brief is the key element for the execution of the architecture competition. It defines the design task and its parameters, the jury and assessment criteria, and the need of secondary referential consultation. This is a shared responsibility between the organizer and the national association of architects.