La casa come luogo di cura. Come l’abitazione può supportare l’invecchiamento = The Home as a Place of Care. How Housing can Support Aging in-place

The paper presented here is part of a study in progress on the complexity of the relationships between aging in place and the characteristics of the living space and its equipment.
The goal of “spaces suitable for the elderly” which over the years has seen the promotion of “grey” literature, mainly aimed at guiding the work of public administrations and social investment programming, finds in the “digital transition” – recognized by recent funding programs – the upgrade to improve both access to assistance (telemedicine) and autonomy, independence of elderly people within their home, through home automation systems integrated into the space/furniture system. Faced with a settlement demand aimed at a pre- dominantly elderly population and recent digital advances, the contribution investigates the topic of the adaptability of homes to the changing needs of elderly people and identifies the possible areas of integration, within the living space, of smart technologies with Universal Design criteria. This step has involved a broad reflection on the user/designed system/ environment relationship. On the one hand, these interactions can be physical, through the search for dimensional, material and sensory relationships with which to control the coherence and appropriateness of the inputs emitted by the artefacts with the physiological structures of individuals. On the other hand, they can be filtered by highly technological devices capable of weighing these inputs with respect to the individual characteristics of possible users.