Abstract
This thesis reimagines the aging U.S. suburb as a site of transition, where single-family housing can evolve into distributed care infrastructure supporting longevity and community well-being. Through onsite research in Sacramento and collaboration with local care providers, the project develops a scalable framework for retrofitting suburban homes into neighborhood-based care hubs connected by shared food, mobility, and caregiver networks. Integrating architectural transformation, service design, and participatory co-design methods, it proposes a systemic approach that bridges individual housing adaptation with urban-scale resilience. Rather than pursuing technological “smartness,” the model advances a human-centered LongevityTech vision,where design mediates between housing, health, and social connection. By turning suburban fragmentation into an intergenerational ecosystem of care, this work illustrates how the built environment itself can transition alongside its aging residents, shaping more inclusive, adaptable, and age-ready futures.
Keywords
Longevity Infrastructure, Housing Transition, Age-Ready Suburbia, Distributed Care Systems
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.885
Citation
Zhuang, K., and Du, M. (2026) Age-Ready Suburbia: Designing Distributed Care and Housing Transitions for Longevity, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.885
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Age-Ready Suburbia: Designing Distributed Care and Housing Transitions for Longevity
This thesis reimagines the aging U.S. suburb as a site of transition, where single-family housing can evolve into distributed care infrastructure supporting longevity and community well-being. Through onsite research in Sacramento and collaboration with local care providers, the project develops a scalable framework for retrofitting suburban homes into neighborhood-based care hubs connected by shared food, mobility, and caregiver networks. Integrating architectural transformation, service design, and participatory co-design methods, it proposes a systemic approach that bridges individual housing adaptation with urban-scale resilience. Rather than pursuing technological “smartness,” the model advances a human-centered LongevityTech vision,where design mediates between housing, health, and social connection. By turning suburban fragmentation into an intergenerational ecosystem of care, this work illustrates how the built environment itself can transition alongside its aging residents, shaping more inclusive, adaptable, and age-ready futures.