Graying Boomers

I must confess that I don't often read the editorials in the Boston Globe, this one, however, caught my eye. 

While baby boomers can be insufferable in many ways, don't expect them to grow older quietly.  When narcissism becomes self-actualization, when meaning and purpose become their lodestars, then we will see their potential realized.    Until then, they are a ripe, rich market.

Graying of America

GET READY for the golden age of the baby boomers. It probably won't be a nostalgia-drenched era of elders patiently accepting the increasing limitations of old age. It's much more likely to be a high-concept, high-tech revolution pushed by people who are staying healthier and living longer -- and getting used to new-fangled products that make logistics easier and lives fuller.

It's a world that governments and businesses have to start preparing for now.

Governor Romney recently hosted a conference on aging that offered a glimpse of this bustling future, including a look at new housing ideas.  One example is the ''naturally occurring retirement community," the phenomenon of people aging in their homes along with other aging neighbors. Community organizations have responded by delivering services to people in these communities, often in apartment buildings where it's easy to place nurses, lawyers, and financial advisers, and easy to use word of mouth to let people know what's available.
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Baby-boomer demands could also mean that one-size-fits-all homes may slip slowly into the past. MIT's architecture department is experimenting with ways to revolutionize home design...... Instead of watching rats in a maze, researchers watch volunteers living in a one-bedroom condominium called PlaceLab. A key question, according to the project website: ''Can technology and architectural design motivate life-extending behavior changes?"

Researchers are looking at how to enhance quality of life to discourage sedentary living, keep people on their medication schedules, and detect health problems quickly by tracking and responding to changes in behavior.

Through its OPEN Prototype House Initiative, MIT is also looking for ways to quickly manufacture affordable prefabricated homes with flexible interiors that can be tailored to meet residents' needs, turning an experiment into a practical idea as quickly as possible.

It's a considerable shift from hoping for sunny, pleasant housing to expecting cutting edge, life-enhancing innovations in services, design, and home construction. These trends dovetail with many people's profound desire to age at home instead of a nursing care facility. Such sweeping change could be part of the baby boomer legacy, good for their ranks and for the spinoffs that could benefit everyone else.