New Year 2013. Trend spotting lists are as ubiquitous as those “year that was” lists. One subject in my envision the promise of longevity volume that continues to make both lists is housing and community living. What innovative examples will emerge to move us from our current “housing for seniors” play book, to the writing of a new epic with a working title – The Houses that Seniors Built.
Looking regularly at the reports and forecasts on this subject, I’m still at wonder – who is at the centre of creative control or choice in the design and development of housing and community living in a seniors future? Are you and I actively taking part in this conversation?
So to get prepped up on this subject, I looked for a primer – a Top Ten Trends list and discovered one more moment of zen. Yes, Seniors Zen. Seniors Zen neatly falls under the category the “Business of Aging”, with featured providers like Sunrise Senior Living. The web site (Seniors Zen Marketing Inc.) is a compact Vancouver based resource for anyone looking for information on the full range of “senior housing” options.
Their 2012 Top 10 List immediately provided me with plenty of blog fodder, but the first important thought that should underline this whole discussion is that we must see our aging process as a continuum of experiences and our envisioning of the “ideal” of what we would like our housing to be may not match what we actually get.