How can urban design and architecture support spatial inclusion for nursing home residents?

Social exclusion refers to a process by which “individuals or groups...are denied the opportunity of participation, whether they actually desire to participate or not” (MacLeod et al. 2017; Barry 2002,p.16). In relation to old-age social exclusion, Tournier and Vidovicova (2019) have defined spatial and community exclusion as “the unintended reduction of mobility outside the personal home (spatial component) and of participation in local life (community component)”. Against this background, nursing home residents may be regarded as experiencing a heightened risk of spatial and community social exclusion because their need to be spatially included has not been prioritised in traditional nursing home architecture and urban planning. More recently, alternative concepts of integrating nursing home residents within the local communities have received increasing attention within policy and practice initiatives. The overall aim of this chapter is to present knowledge about innovative approaches to prevent social exclusion of nursing home residents from urban space and local life. Three cases are chosen from Denmark and one from The Netherlands. The four cases share the aim of reducing old-age social exclusion of nursing home residents. Based on the four cases, we discuss the different ways in which urban design and architecture can contribute to combatting social exclusion.