ABSTRACT
Housing the third age is a challenge in many European countries for the coming decades due to both the aging of the population and a shift in lifestyle. For almost every family the present way of life makes it impossible to take care of older relatives within the family. As a consequence nowadays in many cases older people stay in hospitals for a longer time after an emergency hospitalisation. This has two main disadvantages: on the one hand a hospital is not a pleasant environment where people can feel at home and, on the other hand, the hospital infrastructure is too sophisticated (and thus too expensive) for the care needed.
