Technology around the park: Applying co-design to resolve conflict in retirement villages

Abstract

This short paper explores the role of technology in improving tensioned relationships between older adults and park managers in residential retirement parks and villages. In Australia, residential retirement parks and villages are gated communities complete with demountable homes and community recreational facilities. Typically, a park manager oversees the maintenance and general liveability of the village, however issues about residents' agency and wellbeing often arises. Consequently, residents blame park managers for poor practices resulting in a simplistic 'us versus them' dichotomy. An opportunity arose to work with these older adults to co-design solutions to mitigate these tensions. Our co-design project revealed that residents do not feel they have control or agency over their lifestyle choices in residential villages, thus leading to undesirable experiences and tensioned relationships. Further, while residents prefer to communicate openly and efficiently with their park managers to resolve maintenance and dispute resolution issues promptly, this direct line of communication is rarely accommodated. In response, the introduction of technology is explored to augment the means of improving the relationships between residents and managers in residential parks and villages.