[Development and perspectives of gerontological research: the sample case of housing research]

The present work addresses the historical development of environmental gerontology and housing research. Emphasis is placed on the development of ecological perspectives in gerontology as a research program, its scientific reception and acknowledgment in gerontology, the unfolding of housing-related theories and housing studies. Furthermore, the situation in Germany is juxtaposed against the situation in the US. As is found, between the 1930s and 1960 housing research gained substantial importance predominantly in the US as a consequence of the emergence of the field of social gerontology. There was however not much theoretical impetus from housing research on social and behavioral gerontology at large. In the time period between the 1960s and the mid 1980s many large-scale studies focused on housing in old age. At the same time, grand theories related to housing were introduced with the Ecological Theory of Aging (Lawton) as its flagship conception, able to have an impact on gerontology and its research guiding fundamental ideas (person-environment view of aging). Germany's social and behavioral gerontology saw during this time period the profound discussion of, as was frequently said, social-ecological approaches, while empirical studies tended to concentrate on institutions for the aged. Since the beginning of the 1990s dementia-related themes have largely been taken over as a driving force of North American housing research. In some contrast, gerontological housing research in Germany has strongly addressed the diversity of aging in the private household situation. In conclusion, housing research was important for gerontology in terms of the promotion of a person-environment perspective of aging on the conceptual and empirical level. This function should continue into the future.