Urban Office
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Urban Office - Sustainable Urban Development in a Knowledge Society
ǀ RealLab at Heidelberg University
Innovative Structures of Participation and Sustainable Living Concepts in the Context of Demographic Change
A sub-project of:
Urban Office at the University of Heidelberg: Establishing an “Reallabor” Sustainable city/urban development in a knowledge-based society
The Institute for the Study of Christian Social Service (DWI) and the Institute of Gerontology (IfG) examine innovative living arrangements related to the concept of a caring community
realized by the development of a multigenerational house Heidelberg Village
in a modern urban district of Heidelberg called Bahnstadt
.
The project tackles the problem of demographic change which will lead to an increased number of older adults that wish to remain in familiar environment as long as possible and to care for younger fellow human beings while family networks and assistance will decline considerably due to decreasing birth rates. Caring communities in terms of a comprehensive welfare mix including broad networks of social support as well as solidary neighborhoods are becoming increasingly important to cope with these societal changes. Innovative and sustainable urban development processes, which also take place in Bahnstadt Heidelberg, may contribute to the realization of such a patient-oriented home and community care by evaluating and creating beneficial conditions within urban quarters.
Heidelberg Village
as a specific living arrangement which is currently under construction headed by the architectural office Frey basically represents a separate urban quarter offering a variety of cultural, health, and social services based on a specific concept of a caring community
. However, Heidelberg Village
should rather be seen as a central component of Bahnstadt linking the inside
of the multigenerational house and the outside
of the urban district to guarantee a social togetherness including different actors which will help to integrate especially older adults in participation processes.
First, the project aims to examine the conditions of Bahnstadt as well as Heidelberg Village
for creating a caring community, the existing (Bahnstadt) as well as future character (Heidelberg Village
) of each community, and how they differentiate measuring the residents’ perceptions on the urban quarter using guided interviews. Second, we target to investigate the interplay of Bahnstadt and Heidelberg Village
and how to combine the inside
and outside
during architectural processes using also interviews and participating observation in addition. Third, the study will assess met and unmet needs of older adults living in Heidelberg Village using guided interviews based on a pre-post measurement.
