Introduction

This chapter addresses a form of community living that has been proposed as an antidote to many of the problems of traditional residence for older people while maintaining the advantages of community living. Retirement communities have been associated with active lifestyles in later life, non-discriminatory practice in relation to ageing, participation in day-to-day decision making, and have been credited with improvements in health status and well-being. In many ways a growing interest in retirement communities can be seen as complementary to social-democratic social policies, such as the ‘third way’ in British politics at the turn of the millennium. It is, of course, also a third way in a more particular sense: as a third position between living in the community or in a residential or nursing home.

Historically, housing and care services have been provided within a framework that has been ageist and has fostered dependency. Increasingly, more flexible approaches are being encouraged, which empower, provide choice and promote the autonomy of older people. Emerging perspectives focus on standards of building on community and participation, on what people can do, and on active involvement of consumers and citizens (Riseborough, 1998). Such positive approaches are being promoted through what has been described as ‘new ways of living’, where individuals can prescribe their futures and identities. Retirement communities are seen as one such positive alternative approach to combining housing and support for older people. In Britain, the supportive housing field and retirement communities in particular are a relatively recent phenomenon. In the US and other parts of Europe, most notably the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, such communities have matured, both in terms of their development and in the profile of their residents.

This chapter summarises the historical growth of retirement communities in the US and Europe, looks at the literature on the logic and critique of such provision and discusses whether such communities do herald the development of new lifestyles or whether they are simply a further form of institutional care. This sets the scene for a discussion of some of the empirical studies currently being conducted in Britain; these include a study of the health impact of age-specific living and an ongoing evaluation of a new purpose-built retirement village.