With funding of the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, the research project Samen Wonen op Leeftijd has developed collaborative housing solutions for senior residents in Delft through co-creation with residents. Samen Wonen op Leeftijd originates from Project Together!, a collaboration between the municipality of Delft, TU Delft and the architecture firm INBO aiming to stimulate collaborative housing solutions. Read more about Project Together! here.
Background
The city of Delft has the ambition to build 15.000 homes before 2040 to combat the high demand in the current housing market. As a result of this high demand for housing, a lot of new households and young families move away from the city – while at the same time the population of elderly people and students increases. An interesting neighborhood in this dilemma is Tanthof – Oost. The neighborhood is characterized by its high number of elderly residents. While the current houses of these citizens often do not match their needs anymore, the lack of a better alternative causes them to stay put. This is where a collaborative housing project could be a solution – on the one hand to provide suitable housing for the elderly and provide support in care and combat loneliness; on the other hand to provide new housing options for young families when the elderly residents move out of their current homes.
Currently, new housing solutions are hard to implement in the city of Delft. The pilot aims to provide clear tools to make it easier to realize collaborative housing solutions. The research project runs between January and May 2022, and is funded by the Creative Industries Fund NL.
Course of the research
To ensure relevant design and policy tools, the pilot is based on co-creation with the elderly residents of Tanthof-Oost. The co-creation follows three steps:
01 Immersion
The housing needs of the current residents of Tanthof-Oost are identified through different methods. With 48 surveys, different answers are retrieved about the way people think about collaborative housing, their future home wishes, and current living situation. This data is supported by in-depth interviews. In total, there have been 6 interviews, in which a conversation is started about the topics of the survey. Concluding, an excursion to three different collaborative housing projects was organized, see the picture above. With the research team and several residents of Tanthof – Oost, the different projects were visited and discussed to both show residents what collaborative housing can look like, and to gather more data to support the research.
At the same time a map of all potential building sites for collaborative housing initiatives is made. This map will show the building site in Delft where there is a high chance for collaborative housing to be successful.
The different research methods help shape a complete overview of demands of the current eldery residents – what aspects are unnegotiable, and what is the preferred level of collaboration in housing?
02 Translation
The outcomes of step 01 are translated to design tools, which together will form an inclusive toolbox. The different tools are then tested on several pilot case studies to ensure the toolbox works, and brings on the desired results. During this step, feedback is asked from elderly residents.
03 Connect
Lastly, the case studies will be presented to important stakeholders involved in the potential building sites identified in step 01. These stakeholders are able to help with the realization of the pilot. The toolbox and the case study outcomes will help shape a coherent view of what current demands and wishes of elderly residents are – and more importantly, it provides a starting point to incorporate this kind of collaborative housing in new policies and building projects.
Collaborating partners
Co-Lab Research 