TITLE:
Neighbourhood Calling
ICT-based Solutions to Foster Older Persons’ Mobility in Urban Neighbourhoods
AUTHORS:
Maja Lorbek, Georg Edelmayer; Edeltraud Haselsteiner, Margarete Havel, Wolfgang L. Zagler
ABSTRACT
This paper will present results from two research projects on ICT technologies for the elderly within an urban neighbourhood. Contrary to common ambient assisted living technologies, which are developed primarily as home-based solutions, in our approach ICT is deliberately placed outside the dwelling in order to upgrade urban neighbourhoods. Smart ICT services for the elderly provoke social interaction while preserving the physical mobility of the elderly. ICT solutions developed in the first project are deliberately placed in both traditional localities and as well as newly established venues, and are based on social interaction with peers. Final outcome of research are four scenarios, which are in fact concepts for ICT prototypes. The four scenarios in short are: mobile pavilion, service point, information platform and learning machine. The second project, currently ongoing, is dealing with the question of public transport and of pedestrian mobility of the elderly within urban neighbourhoods. How can ICT in combination with public transport be used to further activate mobility of the elderly and overcome physical and psychological barriers at the intersection of neighbourhoods, public
transport and elderly pedestrians? ICT area-based mobility solutions will be developed with the goal to enhance confidence, autonomy, competence, security and safety of the elderly. Both research project are based upon an interdisciplinary and integral approach. The four involved disciplines are:
Information and communication technology, housing research, urban renewal and social sciences. Existing ICT resources for elderly people as well actual neighbourhoods and mobility routes were and are being examined. Workshops are taking place with the goal to involve end-users and stakeholders in the development of the new technologies, services and also to determine the spatial location of ICT within the neighbourhood / city district. Case study research was/is being carried out in Viennese districts Brigittenau and Leopoldstadt.
AFFILIATIONS:
Dipl.-Ing. Maja Lorbek, Institute of Architecture and Design, Vienna University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13/E253-2, 1040 Wien, lorbek@wohnbau.tuwien.ac.at
Dipl.-Ing. Georg Edelmayer, Institute of Design and Assessment of Technology, Centre for Applied Assistive Technologies, University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Favoritenstrasse 9-11/187-2b edelmayer@fortec.tuwien.ac.at
Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Edeltraud Haselsteiner, Institute of Social Ecology Vienna, Alpen-Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt – Graz – Wien, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria, edeltraud.haselsteiner@aau.at
Mag. Margarete Havel, HAVEL & HAVEL Beratungs GesmbH, 3031 Rekawinkel, Hauptstraße 18, office@havel.at Prof. Dr. Wolfgang L. Zagler, Institute of Design and Assessment of Technology, Centre for Applied Assistive Technologies, University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Favoritenstrasse 9-11/187-2b, zagler@fortec.tuwien.ac.at
Introduction
Both policy and personal preferences are shifting from institutional residential care to ageing in place. In fact, ageing in place with the help of family always was, and still is, the dominant model of care for the elderly. In Austria, elderly with long term diseases or the need for enduring assistance are cared for by family members, mainly wives and daughters, only a small percentage receives (9 % of men and 19 % of women) support from social services. (StatistikAustria 2011, p 56). Due to demographic change and ageing of society as well as individualization of lifestyles, this kind of domestic care will not be available in the future. In times of austerity and further reduction of the welfare state, it is not possible for municipalities to provide for institutional care for everyone. The shift from institutional care to decentralised ageing in place corresponds with the needs of the elderly, who wish to stay in their familiar surroundings and neighbourhoods as long as possible. While care institutions provide for every need and comprehensive care, social services for the elderly at home are quite differentiated and can be adapted to specific personal requirements. With increasing age the need for help with daily activities during the "third age" increases significantly, especially for women over 70. The need for assistance can also be only temporary. Care provided by the family will switch from actual care provision to help in coordination of ambulant care and social services.
Figure 1: Table Statistik Austria, Jahrbuch der Gesundheitsstatistik 2011, p.55 Geriatric policy in Vienna
The city of Vienna adopted a policy of decentralised care for the elderly in 2007, the geriatric concept is based on the following principles:
ambulant services are preferred to inpatient care
regional dispersion of care facilities
high quality of provided social services
This approach is still focused on institutional facilities and less on coordinated area-based care.
The largest Austrian nursing home "Geriatriezentrum Am Wienerwald" (4000 beds), located in Vienna and established in 1904 was gradually split into smaller facilities. New, regionally dispersed and smaller care homes as well as serviced apartments for the elderly were build in several Viennese districts. However, the social services for home care and assistance are offered by several providers, and there is no or very little coordination for different assistance provisions. Informal care is probably needed to coordinate different social services and assistance for care. Innovative approaches, such as the integrated service areas or housing care zones in the Netherlands and a number of other countries, where coordination and networking of different locally based social care providers is an integral part of the concept, are not yet adopted. This deficit reflects the sectoral and disciplinary barriers in municipal planning policy. Decentralised care facilities which are already built nevertheless provide a good starting point for the future and here are also vacant spaces in council housing estates which can also be reactivated for future locally based care networks. General urban planning strategy in Vienna is based on the principle of the compact city and the city of short distances. These principles
correspond with the policy of decentralised care and provisions for ageing in place. ICT for the elderly
In EU as well as in Austria research initiatives hope to develop information and communication technologies, both to support ageing in place and the older population but also to bust innovation in the ICT sector. ICT for the elderly, under the label of "Ambient Assisted Living" (AAL) war heavily endorsed in the 7th EU framework, but also nationally, with a special themed programme called "benefit" funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). "Ambient Assisted Living” (AAL) aims at extending the time older people can live in their preferred home environment by increasing their autonomy and assisting them in carrying out activities of daily living, but also by the use of ICT products and the provision of remote services including care services that will assist them to achieve the autonomy, independence and dignity appropriate to their needs and conditions." (Wichert 2012). The AAL approach is predominantly based on monitoring technologies and on assistance and robotic systems etc., all of which are often located in the dwelling unit of the elderly. A lot of effort is going into user acceptance and usability.
In spite of extensive research funding and a lot of prototypical solutions, market breakthrough was not yet achieved. This is in part due to a existing singular products and services, but also because a business model for cooperation between ICT developers, service providers, medical device manufacturers and housing industry is still missing. (Wichert, Furfari, et al. 2012)
In our opinion the deficit in concept of Ambient Assisted Living is its focus on the home environment and the lack of an integrated, neighbourhood level approach. This exclusive focus on the household alone, enhances two main deficits the elderly are confronted with during their transition to old age: the decrease and lack of physical activity and the lack of social interaction. According to Zhe Wang et.al.
correlations between health, physical activities, services accessibility and social resources are essential for ensuring successful ageing in place. (Zhe, Shepley und Rodiek 2012, p. 339)
Our proposition for the use of ICT for elderly care is based on the two main principles:
to link the information and communication technologies with social interaction and;
to establish attractive venues and paths for ICT based services outside the home. These two principles were and are being applied in the two research projects within the "benefit" funding programme. In the following, research findings from the two projects will be described. Neighbourhood Calling
The first research project under the acronym RUNA "Ruf der Nachbarschaft" which translates "Neighbourhood Calling" exploits the idea of using the ICT to motivate the elderly to go out of their apartments but also to make neighbourhoods more attractive by re-programming of traditional places in addition to new venues, each equipped with innovative information and communication platforms and accompanied by social interaction either through social support teams or based on the peer principle. In the course of the research project, workshops took place with the goal to involve end-users and stakeholders (health providers, social service for the elderly owners of local shops etc.) in the development of new technologies, services as well as to determine their spatial location within the neighborhood / city district. Case study research and GIS analysis was carried out in one specific Viennese district (Brigittenau).
The goal of the project was to empower elderly people within the neighbourhood with the help of ICT products and services. The final outcome of the project are four scenarios, each of them is addressing some the needs of the elderly and is strategically located within the city district. The goal of the scenarios is to stimulate the elderly to visit new and traditional places in the neighbourhood, to establish peer-to-peer relationships, either with computer savvy people of the same age or with young peers and to establish networking between public and commercial service providers. What we called scenarios are in fact concept for product prototypes. While current generation of the elderly is only in part capable of using new IC technologies and is not always eager to learn new skills, in the mid- and long term perspective, computer literate elders will follow. In part, while developing concepts for new services and information systems, one has to address not only the persons who need assistance, but also informal and family carers who help with getting the assistance.
The four scenarios (concepts for product prototypes) are:
mobile pavilion;
service point;
information platform and
learning machine
Some of the concepts or scenarios are not technologies nor places in a strict sense, but a combination of both. Mobile pavilion and service points are places of social interaction in the neighbourhood, information platform and learning machine are technology and software based. It is crucial to establish a relation between the technology and the places within the neighbourhood and further link this type of provision for the elderly with strategic urban renewal planning.
Mobile pavilion is a portable kiosk with ICT offers for the elderly and it is based on peer-to-peer assistance. The pavilions are to be placed in areas where little social services and infrastructures are provided. Instead of using vacant spaces, the newness of the pavilions signifies the importance of this installation for the elderly. The main goal of mobile pavilions is to initiate peer relations, which can later take place elsewhere. Pavilions can also be used to exhibit and promote smart home technologies and specific AAL solutions.
Service point was in part modelled on the Dutch housing care zones ("woonzorgzones"). Service points are to be placed in traditional venues for the elderly. The main purpose is to offer information and to help coordinate different social services and assistance for the elderly and informal carers, but also to initiate holistic offers and networking between public and commercial providers. Service points supervised ICT provisions, adopting the strategy of non central principle of elderly care;
Information platform is a non commercial social networking platform, which provides information on assistance and social services, but also acts as an initiator for cooperation between social services, commercial providers (such as pharmacies, local supply, food delivery) in order to establish holistic services. Information platform is offered at service points and mobile pavilions and can also be accessed by www.
Learning machine is a computer with software for online banking, public transport ticketing, etc which helps elderly to get acquainted with the commands and interfaces. The learning machine operates in a peer-to-peer setting at a service point or in a mobile pavilion, and can also be operated on a personal computer.
The main objective of developing and describing these scenarios was to illustrate the potential of neighbourhoods in providing information and coordination of care and assistance while at the same time enhancing the attractiveness of local environments and promoting physical activity.
Mobile Neighbourhood
In the follow up project, still ongoing, our goal is to further develop the principle of establishing a functioning triad between technology, place and social interaction. The project addresses the mobility of the elderly and how it can be preserved and enhanced through ICT and how it can be linked to social interaction.
The public infrastructure particularly public transport as well as physical barriers can improve or hinder life opportunities of humans. Ideally it supports the lifestyle and everyday life of elderly. In the reverse case there are barriers and restrictions in striving for autonomy and self-sufficiency.
Particularly elderly people see themselves confronted outdoors with to high risks and coupled with less mobility they also reduced their degree of self-organization. For the study a specific area was selected (e.g. a district in Vienna). The spectrum, within which ICT-supported service offers and solutions are involved in the mobility in the residential environment, is broad. Online timetables, control automats of public means of transport, city-spatial information like digital city plans for spatial orientation or „status information“ like weather services are only some in the everyday life common
service. Preliminary results show that the elderly mostly comply to their traditional routes and pathways. Regular intervals on public transport and barrier free access to trams and the underground are highly appreciated and still very much in use. Analysis of actual places such as public transport intersections and railway stations show that these locations have a very high standard of information, orientation and barrier free access. Yet, once out of the range of these centres of high standard, the city environment in Vienna is still dominated by cars, and routes for walking narrow, full of physical obstacles and sometimes quite laborious. Most of these problems can be solved by adapting the build environment and not through software solutions. As in the previous project RUNA, interviews with potential end-users reveal that only a smaller portion of this age group is able to use new technologies and is willing or capable of learning new skills, such as smart phones. Preliminary research shows that the elderly use the communication and information technologies to a certain degree.
While most of them are using mobile phones, only a minority is using a smart phone. Out of 19 interviewed persons, 3 (male) persons are using smart phones. 10 persons (6 male and 4 female) own a computer and are using the internet, 4 persons (female) are interested and would like to be able to deal with the technology, 2 persons are considering buying a computer. 4 female interview partners aged between 78 and 87 have absolutely no interest in these new or established technologies. Most of the persons who have access and use ICT can refer to more experienced users (children and grandchildren, friends and acquaintances , when troubleshooting is needed. Training courses for the elderly, which deal with computer skills and new communication technologies, are very popular. In our further research, we will explore this promising mediation through teaching more closely.
Conclusion
While established AAL Technologies are mostly home-based and predominantly in form of single solutions, our research, but also neighbourhood based concepts such as integrated service areas (ISA) show that local, decentralised elderly assistance bears great potential for future ICT solutions. Ageing in place can only be achieved through local, networked, holistic provision of services and by attractive environments with specific venues, places and pathways for the elderly. Elderly care will remain an essential provision of the welfare state. Therefore, it should be seen as a vital communal infrastructure, comparable to water, sewage, public transport but also educational and health facilities. All these material and social infrastructures are part of the urban fabric and are integrated into strategic urban planning. Ageing in place and social provision for the elderly must therefore be seen as an essential part of the city district. ICT and AAL technology solutions are part of these larger entities. The principle of establishing a triad between technology, place or path and social interaction still needs further prototypical solutions to illustrate its full potential.
Literaturverzeichnis
StatistikAustria. „Statistik Austia.“ 2011.
http://www.statistik.at/dynamic/wcmsprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_NATIVE_FILE&dID=131915&dDocName =068646 (Zugriff am 29. 04 2013).
Wichert, Reiner. „Preface.“ In Ambient Assisted Living. 5. AAL Kongress 2012, von Reiner Wichert und Brigid (Ed.) Eberhardt. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, 2012.
Wichert, Reiner, Francesco Furfari, Antonio Kung, und Muhammad Reza Tazari. „How to Overcome Market Entrance Barrier and Achieve the Market Breaktrough in AAL.“ In Ambient Assisted Living 5.AAL-Kongress 2012, von Reiner Wichert und Brigid (Ed.) Eberhardt, 349-358. Heidelberg, New York: Springer Verlag, 2012. Zhe, Wang:, M. Mardelle Shepley, und Susan D. Rodiek. „Aging in Place at Home Through Environmental Support of Physical Activity: An interdiscipinary Conceptual Framework and Analysis.“ Journal of Housing For the Elderly 26:4, 2012: 338-354.
Figure 1: Table Statistik Austria, Jahrbuch der Gesundheitsstatistik 2011, p.55 ... 2 Figure 2: GIS analysis Facilities in Vienna 20th district, GB 20 ... 4 Figure 3: Scenarios within neighbourhood ... 5
