Intergenerational housing in an aging city : study of the preference among the elderly and younger generation in Hong Kong

Abstract

Aging is always said to be an evil to a city as it can bring lots of negative effects. To the youth and the elderly in Hong Kong, things are even worse as they have to face other challenges such as difficulty of home ownership and being isolated from the society simultaneously. The society is divided into two groups which interaction is rarely discussed. Inter-group relation, which refers to the perception and behavior withhold by one group to another group according to the consolidation of objective state with the subjective interpretation and the social priority, is found not to be valued by society. Inter-group contact theory is then being utilized to bring out the homogeneous of the reality and its theory of which inter-group conflicts is the result of insufficient information among groups. The intergenerational solidarity, which means the inter-group relation created by shared responsibility of these two generations, is then also being neglected like what the study reflected. This study is to explore the opportunity for the application of brand-new intergenerational housing which is the combination of the factors of aging and housing in Hong Kong. Through the questionnaire and in-depth interviews with the people who are mainly 18 to 35 and over 60 years old respectively, it discovered the impacts of aging serving as the foundation of the study. The study also introduced different models of intergenerational housing from foreign countries. It investigated the preference among both generations from different points of view such as sociological, cultural, and psychological. The study affirmed the mentioned challenges nowadays. It was found that not only the elderly but also the youth treasures the tradition concept of “family”. This was not discovered before but can be made used of in dealing with the issues above. Lack of opportunity for communication was the main reason for the misunderstanding. Nevertheless, both generations were open for the interaction. In view of these findings, the research recommended the application of intergenerational housing in Hong Kong but with some important points to be noticed. It showed that both generations were positive towards intergenerational housing while co-housing was their first and only choice. Co-housing here refers to a type of intergenerational housing similar to the housing estates in Hong Kong. Occupants, who are only the youth and the aged, are encouraged to put effort in building the community by holding and participating regular activities. The results also reflected the heavy reliance on the government for the application and operation of intergenerational housing. Both the youth and the elderly refused to take a more important role as they would be just the participants of the programme. The study then suggested that the government should make good use of her authoritativeness and independence to gain people trust and involvements in order to design a unique and favorable model of intergenerational housing for Hong Kong.