For further assistance with your assignment,  contact Nina Smart, Liaison Librarian for Gerontology at nsmart@sfu.ca Monday to Thursday at Belzberg Library or Ask a Librarian. 

Course description:

The built environment is an important factor in elderly people’s physical, social and emotional well-being. Their interaction with the environment is effected by their physical capabilities, psychological needs and preferences, and sociocultural rules. This is a multi-dimensional process that needs to be looked at from different perspectives. This course will address innovative planning and design criteria, principles and solutions for older adults who may have physical and/or cognitive frailty. The course offers: an overview of person-environment interaction; sensory changes with aging and their influence on environmental experience; architectural design issues in residential and institutional settings for the elderly.

Note: for more information see the course outline] or Canvas page.  If there are discrepancies between  information listed on this page and that in Canvas or instructor handouts, please refer to the latter.

Useful books

To find books, search SFU online catalogue; search tips are on SFU Library Catalogue Search Guide. Sample subject headings:

• Architecture -- Psychological aspects
• Older People -- Dwellings
• Older People -- Housing
• Universal Design

Useful Web sites and resources

• BC Housing "develops, manages and administers a wide range of subsidized housing options across the province", including Home Adaptations for Independence
• Canadian Mortgage and Housing Authority (CMHA)
  In particular, check out their page on Accessible and Adaptable Homes
• Freedom machines [DVD] - "disability through the lens of assistive technology"
• Institute for Human Centered Design - "lead organization in the international Universal Design movement"
• Resources and Tools (technology and disability) Trace Research & Development Center, University of Wisconsin- Madison