Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of the Swedish laws concerning care to older people and the architectural design of housing for them in assisted living. There is one predominant model of assisted-living facilities in Sweden, which the author argues is the result of a norm, rather than the requirements stated in the Social Services Act, which is the over-arching law. This Act states that care to the old person should be individualised. The predominant assisted-living model offers small and identical bed-sitting rooms to each resident where they spend more than 15 h per day. It is suggested that these rooms do not accommodate the wishes and needs of each and every individual. Assisted living in Sweden is legally ranked in the same category as ordinary housing. However, medical and institutional mind-sets from the past are embedded in a normative way of thinking that take precedence in the production of these facilities. This norm is nurtured by lower level legislation and rules, such as standards.
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Notes
This article focuses on the requirements of housing design as well as occupational safety. There are a number of other regulations that also concern the design of assisted living, pertaining to e.g. fire prevention, environmental issues and energy. This article does not discuss these regulations since most of them are general requirements and not specific to assisted living.
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Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges that this research project is financed by Kungsleden, AB, Sweden and that the process of writing this article was facilitated by the financial support received through the programme grant ‘Forms of Care in Later Life: Agency, Place, Time and Life Course’ awarded by The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research to Professor Eva Jeppsson-Grassman, NISAL, (2006–1621 and 2007–1954).
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Nord, C. Design according to the law: juridical dimensions of architecture for assisted living in Sweden. J Hous and the Built Environ 28, 147–155 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-012-9300-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-012-9300-y