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Wellbeing and aging in person-home-assemblages
Sander Lambrix1, Luise Stoisser2, An-Sofie Smetcoren2
1ArcK-Designing for More, Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Hasselt University, Agoralaan, Building E, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium; Society and Ageing Research Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium.
Journal of Aging Studies
|June 5, 2026
Summary
Older adults and their homes co-evolve, with wellbeing emerging from dynamic person-home assemblages. This perspective moves beyond individualistic views, recognizing the home environment as an active participant in aging.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Gerontology
- Material Gerontology
- Sociology of Aging
Background:
- The home environment is crucial for aging individuals' wellbeing.
- Current research often adopts individualistic, human-centered approaches to wellbeing in later life.
- Existing models neglect the relational aspects of wellbeing within material, spatial, and temporal contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To adopt a material gerontology perspective to understand wellbeing in relation to aging and the home environment.
- To conceptualize the relationship between aging inhabitants and their homes as "person-home-assemblages".
- To explore how these assemblages influence and are influenced by wellbeing over time.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of three case studies involving transitional life events and architectural changes.
- Integration of data from inhabitant housing biographies and architect interviews.
- Inclusion of material representations of home environments to analyze person-home assemblages.
Main Results:
- Wellbeing emerges in specific, situated ways from person-home assemblages.
- Wellbeing actively shapes the evolution of these person-home assemblages over time.
- Findings integrate aging persons, architectural spaces, objects, landscapes, and housing ideals.
Conclusions:
- The home environment is an active agent in the aging process, not merely a passive backdrop.
- Aging persons and their home environments co-evolve, demonstrating a dynamic relationship.
- This person-home assemblage framework offers a more holistic understanding of wellbeing in later life.
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