Centuries after Shakespeare wrote about King Lear ’s symptoms , there ’s still no perfect way to handle for sufferers of dementia and Alzheimer ’s . In the Netherlands , however , a radical idea is being test : Self - control “ Greenwich Village ” where people with dementia shop , Captain James Cook , and live together — safely .
We , as a universe , are aging rapidly . According to theAlzheimer ’s Association , one in three seniors today break down with dementedness . The process of finding — and paying for — recollective - term care can be very perplexing , unfortunately , and difficult for both loved ones and patients . Most caretaker are underpaid , exploit , and must force back far distance to their jobs — yield away some 17 billion unpaid hour of concern a year . And it ’s just going to get worse : Alzheimer ’s has increase by an unbelievable 68 percent since 2000 , and the cost of caring for sufferer will increase from $ 203 billion last year to $ 1.2 trillion by 2050 .
In poor , we ’re not educate for the future that awaits us — financially , infrastructurally , or even socially . But in the small townspeople of Weesp , in Holland — that citadel of social progressivism — at a dementia - focused sustenance centre called De Hogeweyk , akaDementiavillage , the family relationship between patient and their care is serving as a model for the residue of the globe .

image : Hans Erkelens / CC .
Hogeweyk , from a certain view , seems like a fort : A firm podium of apartments and buildings , closed to the external earth with gates and security fences . But , inside , it is its own self - curb world : eatery , coffeehouse , a supermarket , gardens , a pedestrian boulevard , and more .
The approximation , explain Hogeweyk ’s creators , is to project a world that hold as much a resemblance to normal life as potential — without peril the patient .

Outdoor space design byNiek Roozen .
For example , one rough-cut symptom is the urge to tramp , often without word of advice , which had conduct most “ memory units ” and dementia charge centers to establish a strict ignition lock - down policy . In one German town , an Alzheimer ’s tutelage centre issue jell upa imitation bus stop to foil wandering residents . At Hogeweyk , the inside of the security border is its own little village — which think that affected role can move about as they wish without being in danger .
Each flat hosts six to eight people , including caretaker — who fatigue street clothes — and the relationship between the two is unique . Residents help with everything from cooking to clean . They can grease one’s palms whatever they want from the food market . They can get their hair’s-breadth done or go to a eating place . It ’s those introductory procedure and ritual that can help occupier sustain a better quality of living .

“ The fact that a resident can not function ‘ normally ’ in certain area , being handicap by dementia , does not imply that they no longer have a valid sentiment on their day to day life and surroundings , ” say administrators .
range of a function : Hans Erkelens / CC .
People with dementiaoften strugglewith unfamiliar spaces , colors , and even decor . At Hogeweyk , flat are designed to reach familiar ethnic criterion , categorized into six canonical “ writing style ” of blueprint : “ goois ” or upperclass ( the interior decoration looks old fashioned ) , homey , Christian , artisan , Indonesian , and ethnical .

Each apartment is unlike , catered to a especial life-style , right down to the silverware and furniture . “ live in lifestyles , ” explains Hogeweyk , “ just like before . ”
Lifestyles : Indoniesian , cultural , flush , and urban . Images : KopArt , Amstelveen .
Hogeweyk was designed by Dutch architectsMolenaar&Bol&VanDillen , but it was the brainchild of Yvonne van Amerongen , a caregiver who has worked with memory patient role for decades . Starting in the early nineties , van Amerongen and a mathematical group of like - minded caregiver began researching and design a eccentric of abode where residents would participate in life , the same way they did before they introduce a dementia care social unit .

Hogeweyk , which opened in 2009 , was the completion of that work — but according to The New York Times , interest from companies in other European country and Americamight shortly wreak the same approachto our shores . In fact , in Switzerland , a similar “ village ” has already opened — this onemimics life in the 1950s . After all , the stentorian ageing runs parallel to a boom in building — G of breast feeding homes and new memory care unit will be build over the next few decades . And how they ’re design could affect every mortal scan this .
What Hogeweyk discover , though , is the culturally - ingrained agency we discern between those who do and do n’t suffer from dementia . By treating residents as normal the great unwashed , Hogeweyk seems to propose that there is n’t such a huge departure , deep down — just take issue needs . By designing a city tailored to those unparalleled needs , resident forefend the dehumanisation that long - term aesculapian care can accidentally cause .
On the small town ’s site , a quote from Italo Calvino ’s 1978 unseeable Cities drives it home : “ They already have have a Nox like this , and they were happy then . ”

double : Detail Online ; KopArt , Amstelveen .
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