ABSTRACT
Introduction Multigenerational households have two or more adult generations of a family occupying the same dwelling. The Oxford Dictionary of Sociology defines a household as ‘a group of persons sharing a home or living space, who aggregate and share their income, as evidenced by the fact that they regularly take meals together’ (Scott and Marshall 2009). A household is thus a socio-spatial entity where the social and physical components are interdependent, so change in one component will inevitably affect the other. While the social component (the family) changes over time and with circumstances, the physical environment (the dwelling) is relatively fixed in space and time, and its adaptation more difficult. Given the extent of multigenerational living in Australia and its likely future growth, the design of the dwelling and how well or not it supports such households is an important issue. Do these families simply adapt to an existing dwelling design, make modifications, or move to more suitable housing, and what responses to the needs of multigenerational households are forthcoming from housing policy, designers and the housing industry?
