Technology to Aid Aging in Place- New Opportunities and Challenges

With cheaper and more ubiquitous computing smart spaces and responsiveenvironments are increasingly becoming plausible and affordable. Canthe profession of architecture respond to current computing technologies?Most critics agree that one of the first (most important) problems thatsmart homes will help to address is that of spiraling costs of elderly healthcareand care giving. But what is the problem with healthcare? Will the technologiesthat are designed for the urban home work in a rural setting? Thisbook addresses the above questions through research of current problemsand models of rural healthcare and through a documentation of existingstudies and a focus group study at Meridian MS. The book also examines therole of architecture (and architects) in the context of ubiquitous computingand smart spaces in rural areas.