Generation Reinvention 14: Retirement Housing for the Boomer Future

On February 14, 2011

My guest this time provides exciting insights and revelations for Boomers contemplating housing options of the future. He has thought-provoking stories to share from housing developers worldwide, also grappling with a rapidly aging population. Because of innovations in technology and community design, it’s definitely going to get better in all classes of retirement housing – independent, assisted living and skilled care. Later-life housing is simply going to become more closely aligned with Boomer sensibilities.

Jeffrey P. Rosenfeld, Ph.D. is Director of the Gerontology Program and Gerontology Center at Hofstra University. He is a gerontologist with an interest in the interplay between aging and home-design. Along with Wid Chapman, he is the author of Home Design in an Aging World (Fairchild Books, 2008), and he recently published a review essay entitled Senior Housing Globalized for InformeDesign. His newest book, Un-Assisted Living, also co-authored by Wid Chapman, will be published next fall by Random House.

Together with interior designer Constance Gottlieb, Jeff was funded by the International Federation of Dental Education Associations (IFDEA) Foundation to create modules which would teach design students about aging so that they could design more effectively for older people.

In addition to Hofstra University, Jeff teaches as an adjunct at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. He received his PhD at Stony Brook.