"Smart" homes for an ageing society - between care, control and networked empowerment

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The project examines so-called smart homes for the elderly. It thereby addresses the intersection of two current social megatrends - demographic change and digitization - in the space of the home. The project starts from the assumption that the home as a central space of everyday life for the elderly is currently undergoing a profound transformation through the introduction of assistive technologies. By looking at these transformation processes in detail, the project foregrounds the spatial implications of current socio-technical change. It does not consider digital technologies as passive instruments, but as active mediators of cultural meanings, social norms and behavioral change. In order to understand these processes, the project combines a series of qualitative research methods (qualitative interviews, participant observation, document analysis) and addresses three central questions: The project first asks how ideas about old age and the living situations of older people shape the development of assistive technologies for the home and how these ideas become materially inscribed in devices designed to help the elderly. The project thus looks at the development of assistive technologies as a social field that is actively involved in the socio-technical construction of age. Second, the project asks how the everyday life of the elderly is changing with the introduction of new assistive technologies in the home. Here, the project focuses on the tensions between the designers’ projected user on the one hand, and the actual living realities and needs of older people on the other. Third, the project focusses on the growing importance of home care brought forward by the digitization of care. It investigates how digital technologies change the materiality of care practices and the relationships between older people in need of care, care workers and caring relatives. The project thus contributes to research on geographies of ageing and, through the focus on smart homes, also addresses blind spots in the ongoing geographical debate on spaces of digitization.