I started with the definition of the word “home“ to brainstorm first ideas; the word "community" stood out for me. Next, I looked globally at how individuals in a communal ecosystem can work, live and benefit from each other through use of cutting edge technology.

 

Further desktop research, studies, reports exposed different demographics aiding my understanding of user needs and what problem I would be solving using community and technology as focus within my designs. It transpired that specific demographics struggle to find a community in fast growing urban environments but technology has the potential to solve that problem. Eventually, I identified that the 65+ years senior citizens struggle with the use of digital technology and experience significantly higher levels of loneliness compared to other demographics. My findings were confirmed after interviewing two health care workers. 

I found my design problem: 

How could I create a community for the identified demographic and use digital innovation to reduce loneliness? 

 

My target persona became a 65+ years, healthy, retired woman who has some technical knowledge and lives in a self-sustained home for older people without any close by relatives. 

I proposed a habitat as part of a communal building or neighbourhood that is fitted out with a variety of sensors. Those sensors would monitor bathroom, sleeping, eating and movement habits and trigger alerts or messages to selected individuals in case of detecting behavioural inconsistancies. The frequency of toilet flushes or cabinet doors usage can indicate that a person is not eating well or there is an other underlying issue. Alerts were designed to have various escalation levels based on their type to avoid unnecessary concerns by next of kin.  

Additional installed communication devices would enabled inhabiting individuals to communicate with each other and trigger reminders of communal activities to encourages socialising.