To end the first month of the year Sheila Peace and colleagues from Loughborough University Design School ran a day event ‘Design for Living in Later Life’ with the support of KTEqual (knowledge transfer group set up through EPSRC) and the New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) team supported by five of the RCUKs alongside The OU.
Attended by over 80 people ranging from older people’s groups, OTs, architects, designers and academics plus one very interested MP, Nic Dakin MP for Scunthorpe who had had the day brought to his attention by Jim Harding one of the older people’s reference group for the NDA. The papers and workshop sessions discussed research supported by the NDA programme plus EPSRC and the EU and the topics were very close to home. The morning saw a focus on the kitchen and the bathroom. How as we get older do we use these rooms? How have they been designed and could this be done in a way that is more supportive and makes life easier? The groups began to discuss issues of inclusive design, how people need to be able to get more information about useful domestic equipment and how the retail sector needs to be made more aware.
In the afternoon attention turned to how the ageing body manages to get up and down stairs and what this tells us about movement. Then we turned to the development of clothes that older people want to wear that are fashionable yet offer comfort and a way of monitoring aspects of your health. An aspect discussed in the final talk which not only talked about a telephone app. That told you where public toilets are but also discussed underwear and how we can make incontinence more manageable.
Using these stimulating talks the audience went on the debate what they could expect from future design and what they would want as older people. There was a general view that everyone had learned a great deal and the whole day has been recorded for any one to catch up with these advances in technology that are really person-centred.
Find and view a webcast of the event
Finally, the ‘Transitions in Kitchen Living’ project was presented by Sheila Peace and Martin Maguire and a useful guide not only to problems in the kitchen but also to ways of coping. Further information on ‘The easier kitchen: making it happen’ can be found via Sheila.Peace@open.ac.uk and is also available on the lifelong kitchens website