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This qualitative ethnographic study presents how intergenerational relationships have shaped the architecture of housing in the former apartheid township Kuisebmond in Walvis Bay, Namibia. The township housing, which was designed for nuclear families, now accommodates multiple generations. The original, small, single-family dwellings have become family houses by horizontal additions and extensions. The plots are often skilfully developed according to the families’ needs. In some cases, they have become impressive buildings, housing many individuals. Since formal housing provision has not been able to keep pace with urbanisation, informal housing has been constructed in the form of backyard shacks on the plots of the former township dwellings. These often mimic the former township housing units, albeit on a very small scale. Formal housing, reconstructed or not, together with backyard shacks, constitutes a social geography of intergenerational relations of the extended family. This pattern of urban restructuring affords a scaffolding for extended family needs and an architecture of resistance to apartheid social engineering. The paper reveals an important lesson for housing providers, which is intended as a critical commentary on the persistent tendency of present-day government to continue with the formula of mass-housing with spatially limited single-family dwellings as the former township houses. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Open access.

The number of African older people who live permanently in urban areas is growing. This qualitative ethnographic study explores how older people employ welfare strategies, often involving members of the extended family in mutual care and support. These welfare strategies are emplaced; in this case, in different housing types in a former township in Namibia - Kuisebmond in Walvis Bay. Older people stay in former township houses, in backyard shacks or other rentals, or at an old-age home. Government welfare that was adjusted to family needs appeared in similar shapes in these housing types, such as access to better schools. Older people were both caregivers and receivers of care in these efforts. Taking care of grandchildren while their parents migrated for work was a mutuality of informal support that was highly beneficial to all involved. The non-contributory pensions facilitated many strategies by alleviating risks. Access to high quality housing and government healthcare made urban living a feasible alternative that challenged rural living. The study concludes that housing is a strategic welfare space where formal and informal welfare are optimised in various ways. Older individuals contribute to a large extent to the adjustment, maintenance, and development of these joint spaces. open access

The relationship between architectural space and resident-centred care is poorly understood, even though architectural space is indicated as an important factor in the quality of care. This paper aims to address this gap in existing research by putting resident-centred care in the theoretical context of relationality and emergence in which space is a co-producing component. This qualitative case study includes two housing alternatives, which are compared: one assisted living and one extra-care housing residence, which differ in their legal status and architecturally. Similar fieldwork was carried out in the two residences. Individual interviews with staff and residents, as well as observations—direct and shadowing—were the main data collection methods. The concept of assemblage was used for the analysis of how resident-centred care and architectural space co-evolved. The findings show that resident-centred care appears in similar but also diverse and sometimes contradictory ways in different spaces in the two housing alternatives, suggesting that resident-centred care is situated, volatile and emergent. Although architecture has strong agency, space and care need to be considered together—a caring architecture—in order to understand the nuances and rich conceptual palette of resident-centred care. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. open access

Föreliggande utvärdering har avsett att värdera de resultat som framkommit under första året för Testmiljö Norrköping. En viktig del av utvärderingen har utgjorts av att förstå och reflektera kring nyckelaktörers och deltagares resonemang kring sitt deltagande, sina upplevelser av och syn på projektet. I utvärderingens syfte ingick även att lyfta vilka mervärden och bieffekter som kommit fram under projektets första år. Vid genomförande av föreliggande utvärdering har sammanlagt 14 kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts. Nio av dessa intervjuer har varit med personer som är nyckelaktörer inom projektet. Fem intervjuer har utförts med personer som deltagit i surfplatteutbildningen. Utöver de kvalitativa intervjuerna har en enkät delats ut till samtliga personer som deltagit i surfplatteutbildningen. Enkätens svarsfrekvens var hög, då 45 av 54 tillfrågade besvarade enkäten. Utifrån utvärderingens resultat- och analysdel är vår bedömning att man inom projektet Testmiljö Norrköping uppnått det övergripande målet att under projektets första år etablera stadsdelarna Såpkullen och Vilbergen som testmiljöer för digitala tjänster och lösningar riktade till personer över 75 år. Denna bedömning motiveras av att man etablerat kontakter med intresserade företag som vill genomföra olika tester inom ramen för projektet samt att man arrangerat surfplatteutbildningar där sammanlagt 64 personer deltog. Genom att man lyckats nå ut till denna grupp av personer och koppla dem till testmiljön har man lagt en viktig grund för testmiljöns framtid. Vår bedömning är även att bredden i styrgruppen och det stora externa intresset för testmiljön innebär potentialer till att länka till andra aktiviteter, yrkesområden, organisationer och projekt. Vad gäller deltagarnas uppfattningar av och syn på utbildningen var de överlag nöjda med utbildningens uppläggning och innehåll. Övergången från att gå en surfplatteutbildning till att faktiskt använda en surfplatta i vardagen har visat sig vara komplex och varierande mellan informanterna. Utbildningen har bidragit till att deltagarna vågat pröva sig fram på surfplattan på egen hand. Att man genom utbildningen upplever sig vara delaktig i samhället och att man tack vare utbildningen upplever att man följer med i samhällsutveck-lingen, var något majoriteten av deltagarna tog upp i intervjuerna samt i enkätsvaren. Beträffande nyckelaktörernas perspektiv på projektets första år framgick att styrgruppens sammansättning uppfattades som relevant. Alla i styrgruppen upplevde projektets innehåll och mål som betydelsefulla utifrån den verksamhet man representerade. Under projektets första år har flera oväntade resultat och ändringar i inriktning uppkommit. Att kalkylera och ge utrymme för oväntade resultat är svårt då man på förhand inte kan veta vilka oväntade resultat och händelser som kan inträffa. Att synliggöra dessa förändringar kan bidra till en förståelse för hur komplex framväxten av projektet varit. Det kan även bidra till att identifiera oväntade hinder som kan vara tidskrävande att överkomma, men även till att belysa vilka positiva resultat och mervärden som kan komma ur det oväntade. Utvärderingen är författad av Axel Ågren, Catharina Nord och Elisabet Cedersund (alla verksamma vid NISAL, Linköpings universitet) på uppdrag av vård- och omsorgskontoret och PUFF-enheten, Norrköpings kommun. PUFF-enheten är en forsknings- och utvecklingsverksamhet inom välfärdsområdet. Inom PUFF-enheten ingår Norrköpings, Söderköpings, Finspångs och Valdemarsviks kommun i samverkan.

In the year 1966, the first government hospital, Oshakati hospital, was inaugurated in northern South West Africa. It was constructed by the apartheid regime of South Africa which was occupying the territory. Prior to this inauguration, Finnish missionaries had, for 65 years, provided healthcare to the indigenous people in a number of healthcare facilities of which Onandjokwe hospital was the most important. This article discusses these two agents’ different ideological standpoints which were materialised in the spatial design of the two hospitals. The same year, the war between the South West African guerrillas and the South African state started, and continued up to 1988. The two hospitals became involved in the war; Oshakati hospital as a part of the South African war machinery, and Onandjokwe hospital as a “terrorist hospital” in the eyes of the South Africans. The missionary Onandjokwe hospital was linked to the Lutheran church in South West Africa, which became one of the main critics of the apartheid system early in the liberation war. Warfare and healthcare became intertwined with apartheid policies and aggression, materialised by healthcare provision based on strategic rationales rather than the people’s healthcare needs. When the Namibian state took over a ruined healthcare system in 1990, the two hospitals were hubs in a healthcare landscape shaped by war and apartheid logic.

När äldreboenden byggs sitter vi fast i ett gammaldags tänkande präglat av ålderstigna ålderdomshem. Istället borde vi bygga moderna trygghetsboenden där individerna sätts i centrum.

This paper presents two hospitals in northern Namibia and discusses the architectural design as embedded in two different political discourses which generates entirely different forms. One is Onandjokwe hospital constructed by Finnish missionaries in 1911. The other, Oshakati hospital, inaugurated in 1966, was the first governmental hospital in this part of Namibia as a response to the international critic of apartheid neglect of black people’s health. There are major differences between the hospital design and construction management of the two hospitals. Discursive differences are visible in construction, building material and layout including spatial separation of patients as well as staff. The paper also frames the hospitals in the wider politico-geographical process in which South African warfare in the area from 1966 to 1989 is central. The two hospitals became associated to the two different antagonists in the conflict. Oshakati hospital became a part of the South African war machinery, while Onandjokwe became a “terrorist” hospital where wounded guerilla soldiers searched for care. The major South African army base was constructed just adjacent to the Oshakati hospital. Three other governmental hospitals were also constructed in the area during the conflict as a part of the strategy to “win the hearts and minds” of the local people.

Intresset för att arbeta med hund i äldreomsorg har vaknat i Sverige. Rapporten visar att möjligheterna är många att utveckla olika former av rehabiliterande verksamhet för äldre med vårdhund. De två särskilda boendena som står i centrum för utvärderingen, Årstagården och Balder, båda i Uppsala, har funnit olika vägar i det arbetet även om deras utgångspunkter i hög grad var lika vid starten.

The experience of architecture is difficult to research due to that people often have their attention to other things than the built environment. Architecture then constitutes a frame for human experience, a matter of course difficult to describe and grasp. The body’s relationship with physical space is also evasive in nature. The experience of the body disappears when a person’s attention is directed to other things. However, the body reappears when a person is ill or disabled. It becomes describable and a focus for attention that makes it accessible to researchers. This paper presents the disabled body’s relationship with the physical environment illustrated by a research project of major adaptations of bathrooms of older and disabled people’s (client’s) private homes in London. The clients’ experiences of the adapted bathrooms revealed relationship between the body and the environment of great complexity, both prior to and after the adaptations were finished. These experiences revealed that illness and disability may manifest themselves in the micro scale of performances and interfere with the use of space in minute aspects as well as larger ones. They involved reflection on major and minor bodily performances in space, also simple acts which are hardly ever considered in many situations. The client’s had developed complex personalized strategies by which they tried to come to terms with bodily difficulties to which the adaptation was expected to provide the solution. These personalized strategies constituted efforts to embody the new environment. More people than ever are reaching high ages. Architects already face the challenges of developing new housing alternatives for disabled and older people. Architectural research goes hand in hand with this. The body situated in its life-world is a conceptual tool of relevance to these studies of the architecture of the everyday in environmental gerontology and disability research.

Varje människa har en kärna av jag inom sig. De flesta kan nog känna att jag var jag för tio, tjugo och fyrtio år sedan. En liten flicka, en ung man. I det omvända perspektivet, om tio år, kan jag föreställa mig att jag sannolikt kommer att uppleva samma förtätning inom mig som jag kallar jag. Men i ett perspektiv på tjugo år, för att inte tala om trettio, fyrtio år börjar känslan av mitt jag upplösas i abstrakt åldrande. Det behöver inte bero på vår tids fixering vid ungdomlighet att detta bereder en svårigheter. Livets mening är helt enkelt att leva. Att föreställa sig att man närmar sig sitt eget slut låter sig inte göras utan motstånd. Man kan nog sluta sig till att en gammal människa är, liksom jag som är yngre, alla sina åldrar. Men inte för att trösta mig. För en gammal människa är framförallt gammal. Och det kommer jag också att bli om jag har tur.

The majority of people continue to live in their own homes as they move into old age (Peace et al, 2007). However, the home environment may present considerable challenges to those for whom old age brings increasing frailty and disabilities. The purpose of major adaptations to the home is to remove or mitigate obstacles in the physical environment in order to facilitate activities of daily living (Heywood et al. 2002). However, the quality of adaptations may not always meet the expectations of the client. Heywood (2001) suggests that this may be due to difficulties in communication during the design process. This study elucidates the process of communication which occurs during the design and construction of home adaptations for older people. It was carried out as part of a larger feasibility study into whether information and visualisation technology might be appropriate in supporting the design and implementation of housing adaptations for older people. The purpose of the main study was to investigate how communication between the older person and professionals might be improved, possibly by providing relevant knowledge with a computer-based tool. The study presented here constitutes the first stage of the main investigation. The aim of this preliminary study was to explore how communication between older clients, their family members, staff in social services, occupational therapists, surveyors and builders took place in the briefing and design process for housing adaptations. The objectives were to identify and examine the roles of the key resource controllers involved in determining client needs and initial solutions, locate the sources and extent of knowledge related to key design and implementation issues. By mapping the flows of communication and transfer of this knowledge would determine the feasibility of developing systems and an information and visualisation tool to support the design and implementation process so that both the user and the builder are presented with the best technical answers to meet their needs.

Even if one is confident that the staff provide the bestpossible treatment, being admitted into hospital is still astressful situation. In recent decades, architecturalresearchers have elaborated on aspects of the patient'sperspective where the design of the physical environment maypositively enhance the healing experience. The emergingunderstanding reveals that this is not an issue to be solvedsimply by decorative design, for it entails the spatialinterpretation and integration of broader and deeper facets ofhuman response, within which suffering, empathy andprofessional care are embraced. This thesis elucidates the patients' use of space accordingto their cultural perceptions in two inpatient wards in aregional hospital in northwestern Namibia. The study appliescase study methodology with the focus on the interactionbetween patients, visitors and nursing staff in relation to thephysical environment. The theoretical basis within medical anthropologyconceptualises sickness as a cultural event in the dual notionillness and disease, signifying two ways of understandingsickness, the individual and the professional interpretations.The Foucauldian theory on discipline and space suggests thatthe biomedical discipline is spatially represented by themodern hospital, from which aspects of illness areexcluded. The results show that circumstances in the physicalenvironment highly influence the patients' illness experienceby possessing certain qualities or by the activities renderedpossible by spatial conditions. The two wards possess manymodern qualities adding to an enclosed and restrictingenvironment. Patients come from a culturally dynamic andchanging context where new approaches to healthcare andhospital physical space are generated. Whereas patients haveintegrated hospital-based biomedicine as a medical alternative,modern hospital space cannot accommodate certain patient needs.Patients, visitors and nursing staff negotiate space in orderto overcome spatial weaknesses. Family members' overnightaccommodation in the hospital, as well as their voluntarycontribution to patient care, are two important aspects whichare not spatially incorporated. An alternative ward design is suggested in which patients'and family members' active participation in the healing processis encouraged, with support from the nursing staff. The higherflexibility the design offers caters for the spatialintegration of future hybrid processes. NR 20140805