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Most older people wish to age “in place”. However, as current housing is mainly unsuitable for later life, architects have a key role to play. Yet, there is little architectural consideration for the notion of “ageing in place” and its various facets, beyond a functional focus. Architects seem to lack support to grasp inhabitants' sensible needs, and thus synergies with other human-centred disciplines could be enlightening. To ensure homes are designed in line with people's wellbeing, the authors aim to provide a state-of-the-art view, as to build a model supporting architects through their understanding of older people-environment relationships.

In this paper, the authors investigate the key concepts that could enrich architects' design approaches on “ageing in place”. A narrative literature review scrutinising English- and French-written publications from the last twenty years in various disciplines was conducted, with a focus on older people and non-institutionalised housing.

The results highlight five essential perspectives to be taken into account when questioning housing for older people: health, affective, social, built and contextual perspectives. Their meaning and ties are developed and then synthesised into considerations, calling for architectural creativity.

This fivefold theoretical model adds to the existing architectural body of knowledge by adopting a multidisciplinary and multidimensional angle, going beyond the predominantly pragmatic vision associated with ageing. It provides stakeholders in architecture with a fresh and clear insight of meaningful relationships between older people and their residential environment.