The Future of Retirement Living

Retirement Outlook 2016 adopted a forward-looking theme and explored issues around what retirement living would look like in the future. 

This included both current trends, such as people working into later years, as well as information on what changes could be brought by some of the disruptive technologies.  This was led by Futurist, Ross Dawson who outlined technological changes particularly those around ageing.

Many of these technologies can delay entry into Residential Aged Care by allowing people to receive assistance while living amongst their community.  With the growing trend of many retirement living operators facilitating care packages to their residents, these technological assistants may be part of the future of aged care packages.

Outlook 2016 included a panel discussion with Fabio Ramos from the School of Information Technologies, UTS, who outlined the use of new technologies particularly in understanding the cognitive function of dementia sufferers. 

Rene van der Loos from NRMA & Motoring and Services discussed the Living Well Navigator and its ability to deliver information to potential residents on retirement communities. 

Guy Luscombe from Johansson + Associates outlined new forms in retirement housing particularly co-housing arrangements and their potential to succeed in Australia.  This stimulated questions and comments from the audience who continued many of these discussions in the networking drinks that followed.