Smart Habitat Cities
- According to the United Nations by 2050, 70% of the global population will live in cities, of which at least 15% will be people with disabilities.
- the proportion of persons with disabilities and older persons living in cities is rising faster than the rest of the population.
- Globally, between 2000 and 2015, the number of people aged 60 years or over increased by 68% in urban areas, compared to just a 25% increase in rural areas.
- Moreover,360 million people worldwide have moderate to profound hearing loss, 285 million people are visually impaired (39 million of whom are blind) and 75 million people need a wheelchair (of which, only 5-15% actually have access to one).
- Inclusive, accessible, sustainable and viable cities are already in dire need – and that will continue to be so in the future. What does an ideal smart habitat look? It is a place that incorporates technology to make city life more accessible and efficient, without feeling like technology is present.
- Toronto is slated to be the first smart city in Canada thanks to Google’s parent company, Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. The project’s mission is to “blend people-centered urban design with cutting-edge technology to achieve new standards of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity.”
- Digital technologies could not only make public locations more accessible to people living with disabilities or permanent conditions, but also private spaces to live long and prosper.
- people with autism can be hypersensitive to sound, light, and movement, and become overwhelmed by noisy, cluttered or crowded spaces. That’s what Sweetwater Spectrum, a $6.8m supported-housing project in Sonoma, California, aims to address.
- The site, which opened its doors in 2013, includes four 4-bed homes for 16 young adults, a community center, therapy pools and an urban farm – all designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects according to autism-specific principlesrecommended by Arizona State University to promote a sense of calm.
- In June 2018,it was widely reported that Frances started to work on its first “Alzheimer’s village” where inhabitants suffering from the most frequent cause of dementia will be given free rein without medication in a purpose-built medieval-style citadel designed to increase their freedom and reduce anxiety.
- Residents of the village in Dax, southwestern France, will be able to shop in a small supermarket, go to the hairdressers, local brasserie, library, gym, and even a little farm. The inhabitants are confined to the village for their own safety but are allowed to move around freely inside and are watched over by plain-clothed medical staff.
- The idea originates from the Netherlands, where a similar care center operates in the village of Weesp, Netherlands.
- TheHogeweyk – where weyk or wijk means a group of houses, comparable to a village – is a specially designed small residential area with 23 houses for 152 dementia-suffering seniors.
- The elderly all need nursing home facilities and live in houses differentiated by lifestyle, such as Goois (upper class), homey, Christian, artisan, Indonesian or cultural.
- The residents manage their own households together with a permanent team of staff members.
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