Aging in Place: Tool Kit 1: Universal Design for the Long Run

David Hornick, Maura Parente

This session provides information to enable cohousing planners and residents to assure a supportive living environment for people as they age in place in cohousing communities. The main components of the Toolkit are presented in two parts. First, David Hornick discusses the interplay between housing, preventive health, wellness and chronic illness. Second, Maura Parente presents the concepts and features of “universal design.” Universal design extends the accessibility and usability of as much of the environment as possible by as many people as possible and pertains to interior spaces of homes and community rooms as well as landscaping.

David Hornick is a physician who specializes in providing medical care to people of all ages who are homebound in New York’s Capital District. He has also directed a project to renovate senior apartments utilizing universal design technology. He is interested in cohousing as a partial solution for housing the rapidly increasing numbers of aging Baby-boomers. He is a graduate of Cornell University, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the SUNY at Albany School of Public Health.

Maura Parente is the Coordinator of the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston, an international educational non-profit organization committed to advancing the role of design in expanding opportunity and enhancing experience for people of all ages and abilities. At the Institute, Maura works with the international design community to generate awareness about human-centered design. Maura has a MA of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and specialized in designing products for the health care industry.