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F. Brandl, K. Kiesel, A. Mahdavi:
"Communal living for elderly in Vienna: ecological, social and economic aspects";
Talk: ENHR2016 - European Network for Housing Research, Belfast, Northern Ireland; 2016-06-28 - 2016-07-01; in: "Proceedings of ENHR2016", P. Gray, J. Frey, P. Quigley, N. McCrudden, E. Patterson (ed.); (2016).

Demographic change in Europe implies an aging population. Nowadays many old people live alone in their apartments and receive support from mobile services. Furthermore, isolation is a problem among this group. Moreover, older people typically live in large dwellings which results in unnecessary use of energy, spatial, and financial resources. However, more and more "young oldies" in the age of 60+ would prefer to live in a community. Thus, the inhabitants would live in a friendly and more caring neighbourhood.
In this context, the eco-com.60+ project (partially funded by The Austrian Research Promotion Agency) explored more sustainable, energy-efficient, and cost-efficient solutions.
The hypothesis was posted, that the integration of communal living models in existing buildings increases energy-, spatial- and cost efficiency.
The results of the case study showed, that the heating loads for the two reference buildings could be reduced significantly with retrofitting and also by implementing communal living. Additionally, the implementation of communal living can lead to a reduction of living space per person of up to 50%.
A rough extrapolation up to the urban scale for the city of Vienna points towards a significant saving of space (approximately 3 million square meters net floor area) and a heating energy reduction of 520 GWh, if only 10% of people in this age group would change their way of living.
Furthermore, by integrating these eco-com.60+ communities in existing urban neighbourhoods, aspects pertaining to the urban environment (qualified density, shops, public transportation etc.) are considered and positively influenced.

(no german version available) Demographic change in Europe implies an aging population. Nowadays many old people live alone in their apartments and receive support from mobile services. Furthermore, isolation is a problem among this group. Moreover, older people typically live in large dwellings which results in unnecessary use of energy, spatial, and financial resources. However, more and more "young oldies" in the age of 60+ would prefer to live in a community. Thus, the inhabitants would live in a friendly and more caring neighbourhood.
In this context, the eco-com.60+ project (partially funded by The Austrian Research Promotion Agency) explored more sustainable, energy-efficient, and cost-efficient solutions.
The hypothesis was posted, that the integration of communal living models in existing buildings increases energy-, spatial- and cost efficiency.
The results of the case study showed, that the heating loads for the two reference buildings could be reduced significantly with retrofitting and also by implementing communal living. Additionally, the implementation of communal living can lead to a reduction of living space per person of up to 50%.
A rough extrapolation up to the urban scale for the city of Vienna points towards a significant saving of space (approximately 3 million square meters net floor area) and a heating energy reduction of 520 GWh, if only 10% of people in this age group would change their way of living.
Furthermore, by integrating these eco-com.60+ communities in existing urban neighbourhoods, aspects pertaining to the urban environment (qualified density, shops, public transportation etc.) are considered and positively influenced.

demographic change, communal living, urban density, sustainability, energy efficiency

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_251820.pdf