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Homes of the Future
| News Released August 2, 2002:
Visitability
Following the lead of several municipalities
and states, Salt Lake City is currently drafting
a proposed ordinance aimed at encouraging builders to
provide housing that is easy to visit. The Utah Legislature,
too, is drafting a model visitability ordinance.
"Being a visitor in an
inaccessible house means the dangerous possibility of
being dropped down the steps, the worry and embarrassment
of being kept from using the bathroom, the social awkwardness
of being carried, the frustration of not being able
to knock on the door to see if someone's home,"
notes the Web site for Concrete Change, a Georgia-based
nonprofit aimed at making "all homes visitable."
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In keeping with the concept
of making homes to accommodate individual need, homes of the
future may themselves provide very sophisticated amenities.
Take a look at this news release, hot off the press from Reuters'
newswire:
"Smart Home" Watches Out for
You
LONDON, Sept. 6, 2002—In the
future, people could live in "smart homes" that
will tell them when to wake up or remind them to lock the
back door, a British scientist predicted Wednesday. The "Caring
Home" (particularly useful to the elderly or infirm)
would be equipped with electronic sensors connected to a computer
that will remind people to take their medicine or turn off
the oven.
Professor Heinz Wolff, a bioengineer at Brunnel University
near London told the annual British Association for the Advancement
of Science conference that the first pilot home could be ready
at the university by the autumn.
"It is a computer-aided system, with about 30 sensors,
that can talk and negotiate with the tenant," Wolff told
a news conference. "It can also work out if they are
doing something that might be harmful to them."
The aim of the "smart home" would be to allow the
elderly to live independently in their own homes for as long
as possible instead of moving them into assisted housing or
nursing homes. With the number of people living into their
80s expected to increase dramatically in the next few decades,
Wolff believes there will be a big demand for the homes, which
will allow the elderly to maintain independence and privacy.
"We're preserving the ability of the elderly to live
in their own homes," Wolff said.
In addition to reminding the elderly about things they may
have forgotten to do, the "caring home" might also
alert a volunteer when the occupant is ill or in danger. Each
house would be linked to a voluntary organization or a neighbor
who would be alerted if something went seriously wrong.
Wolff and his team at Brunnel have $1.8 million in funding
and are working with housing associations, communication companies
and charities. British Telecom is one of the biggest investors.
Although Wolff is planning to build new homes and apartments
with the system, he said it would also be possible to adapt
an existing house or apartment.
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