The NYTimes reports on an enterprising group of retirees in idyllic Davis, CA who joined forces to create what is considered to be the "country's first self-planned housing development for the elderly...right down to its purple gutters:"
The four couples, two widows and two who are now living solo live in eight individual town houses, grouped around an inner courtyard. Still under construction is the "common house" with a living room and a large kitchen and dining room for communal dinners; upstairs is a studio apartment they will rent at below market value to a skilled nurse who will provide additional care. It is their own self-styled, potluck utopia.
The architectural organization of the complex is an interesting reflection of a collective desire to grow old together, differently. The article notes that demographic shifts suggest many, many more developments of this kind are to come:
Dr. William Thomas, who developed the "Eden Alternative," a widely publicized effort to make nursing homes less institutional, is developing Eldershire in Sherburne, N.Y., south of Syracuse, a hybrid between co-operative housing and a traditional development. The idea is to build first and then attract residents who will run it themselves.
Dr. Thomas compares co-operative housing, and its time-consuming community planning, with "homemade bread — people get together, mix the ingredients, let the dough rise." He's trying to adapt the concept for broader consumption — "100 million people," he says, "buy bread at the store."
As the residents of Glacier Circle are joined by waves of Baby Boomers just beginning to retire, the elderly--who will be more affluent than any other generation before them--will be searching for different experience than those of their parents'. They may not necessarily crave traditional "leisure towns;" they could retire downtown, for example.
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