Humanics Lab: Jonathan Enns and Kathleen Fu
UHN Open Lab: Jen Recknagel, Craig Madho, Melissa Frew and Tai Huynh

Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population, and they are increasingly moving to urban areas. According to Statistics Canada, in 2016, approximately four million Canadian seniors lived in census metropolitan areas, a 21 percent increase from just five years earlier. (1) This trend is expected to intensify over the next two decades as senior populations double in size. (2)

Increasing urbanization has given rise to the phenomena of naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) buildings: seniors downsizing into co-ops, condos, and rental buildings not originally built for seniors. Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in Toronto, where in the downtown core alone, there are 319 high-rise NORC buildings, in which over 30 percent of the residents are seniors. (3) While this phenomena of high-rise aging represents 36 percent of seniors in Toronto, similar trends appear in cities like Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa, where one in five seniors lives in a high-rise. (4)

Nevertheless, for many seniors, the actual experience of aging is typified by a sense of loneliness and isolation. A widely referenced meta-analysis from 2010 found that social isolation exceeds obesity and physical inactivity as a risk factor for mortality. (5) A 2014 report found that the lack of a supportive social network is linked to a 60 percent increase in the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, as well as an increased risk of developing mental health issues, further perpetuating cycles of isolation. (6)

The accelerating phenomena of vertical aging magnifies the already serious implications of social isolation. Can design play a role in mitigating harm? The sciences of situated cognition and environmental psychology tell us design matters greatly to both the functional and emotional needs of inhabitants. Flexible designs that embrace changes in individual needs and capabilities foster more satisfied, trustful, and sociable communities. The design of functionally suitable and accessible shared spaces can affect the social wellbeing of the community as a whole. Design decisions directed at solving primary questions of the functional brief can have meaningful effects on the mood, emotion, and behavior of occupants.

Given the phenomena of vertical aging in Toronto, our first question was to better understand the baseline “hardware” behind it. What are NORCs? What are their design traits? And, what are their potentials for change?

The document that emerged is an attempt to answer these questions directly and determine the path forward. It is a provocation for owners, developers, residents, policy experts, and service providers. It is an argument for the feasibility, desirability, and viability of pro-social design implementation in situations of vertical aging.

Endnotes

(1) Statistics Canada, Toronto, C [Census subdivision], Ontario and Canada [Country] (table), Government of Canada Census Profile, 2016 Census, Statistics Canada catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001, Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed September 29, 2021).

(2) National Seniors Council, “Report on the Social Isolation of Seniors,” Government of Canada, 2014, https://www.canada.ca/en/national-seniors-council/programs/publications-reports/2014/social-isolation-seniors.html.

(3) http://www.torontocentrallhin.on.ca

(4) Statistics Canada

(5) Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B Smith, and J Bradley Layton, "Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review," PLoS Med 7, no. 7 (2010): e1000316.

(6) National Seniors Council

Acknowledgements
This project was designed by Humanics in collaboration with our research partners OpenLab at University Health Network. Thank you to our project sponsors at AMS healthcare. The full report can be viewed at http://verticalaging.uhnopenlab.ca/.

Humanics is Jonathan Enns (director) and Kathleen Fu (project lead).

Bio

Jonathan Enns is a designer and assistant professor at the University of Waterloo where he teaches courses in the Architecture and Architectural Engineering departments. His teaching and research is dedicated to supporting emergent design in the built environment by developing kit-of-parts architecture. He runs Humanics R&D Lab and is a partner at Enns Cummings Office (EC-O).

Kathleen Fu is a designer and illustrator based in Toronto. She is a graduate of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture where she spent time researching social isolation and urban loneliness. She has since been involved in large-scale master plan projects, transit-oriented development projects, and streetscape and public space design. In her free time, Kathleen works in the field of illustration and editorial publishing.