Housing for “ageing in place”: Urban densification projects and the provision of age-appropriate housing in Switzerland

Ageing population is a major demographic trend affecting various spheres of urban life globally, from individual to societal levels. “Ageing in place” stands out as a popular public policy strategy that focuses on enabling older adults to live independently and safely within communities for as long as possible to avoid dependency on institutionalized care. From a spatial planning perspective, ageing in place requires adapting the urban infrastructure, including the housing stock that are beyond design-related physical accessibility. This paper's purpose is to explore the overlapping roles of land use planning to limit new land take and housing policy to provide age-appropriate housing in the pursuit of ageing in place objectives. We conduct an exploratory case study in three selected municipalities in the region of Bern, Switzerland, where both rapidly ageing urban population and land scarcity for new development are pivotal challenges for urban policy. Our findings demonstrate that interests in urban densification and age-appropriate housing provision coincide for both public and private actors at the local level, although this overlap may not be an immediate policy objective. While urban densification is pursued for ecological sustainability under the name of efficient land use by limiting urban sprawl, it also creates opportunities to facilitate ageing in place. Our findings also suggest that housing affordability remains a policy challenge at the cost of the public interest in ageing in place. Improving policy coordination within and across governmental levels is essential to plan ageing in place for all, not only those who can afford it.