Active and Assisted Living, a Practice for the Ageing Population and People with Cognitive Disabilities: An Architectural Perspective

Santiago Quesada-García (), Pablo Valero-Flores and María Lozano-Gómez
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Santiago Quesada-García: Department of Architectural Design, University of Seville, Av. Reina Mercedes 2, 41012 Seville, Spain
Pablo Valero-Flores: Faculty of Medicine, Campus Teatinos, University of Malaga, Blvr. Louis Pasteur, 32, 29010 Malaga, Spain
María Lozano-Gómez: Department of Architectural Design, University of Seville, Av. Reina Mercedes 2, 41012 Seville, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: The current digital revolution is causing a paradigm shift encompassing all environments in which human beings conduct their daily activities. Technology is starting to govern the world, gradually modifying not only individual and social behaviour, but also ways of living. The necessary adaptation to new information and communication technologies forces societies to rethink both public and private spaces, in which evolution is slower than rapid social transformation. As part of this change, the concept of Active Assisted Living (AAL) has developed. Assisted spaces can be designed to provide older adults, carers, or people who have cognitive disabilities, such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, with a healthier, safer, and more comfortable life, while also affording them greater personal autonomy. AAL aims to improve people’s quality of life and allow them to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, not in residences. This study conducted a critical review about AAL from an architectural point of view. The research adopted a qualitative approach in which we collected the studies during the last twenty years, then used descriptive, narrative and critical analysis methods. Based on these, this paper aims to explain this new technological paradigm, its characteristics, its main development trends, and its implementation limitations. The results obtained show how the development of AAL will be in the next ten years, and how this concept, and its application, can influence architecture and provide the bases for further research into the design of buildings and cities.

Keywords: Active Assisted Living; ambient intelligence; Ambient Assisted Living; health humanities; healthy architecture; ageing; ambient adapted to Alzheimer’s outpatients; cognitive architectural design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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