Envisioning a future whereby dementia will not stop people from having a pleasant shopping experience
In the news:
<http://www.nu.nl/amsterdam/4468365/bespoten-stoeptegels-dementerenden.html>
Dementia friendly shopping
What is the goal of the project?
Enabling people with dementia to go outside and do some shopping (getting exercise) without loosing the way. Creating a dementia friendly neighborhood.
What is the result of the project?
We use sustainable paints to create a temporary path in order to find out what works and what doesn't before making anything permanent. We do this in cooperation with a researcher from the VU.
Who initiated the project and which organizations are involved?
- Odensehuis team
- Amsterdam Stadsdeel Zuid
- BuurtUp & Natural Media Experts
- VU and Rietveld Academie students
- Local entrepreneurs
What is the next step?
Evaluating the project and preparing replication to other cities.
What can other cities learn from your project?
We are learning a lot. We were especially surprised by the participation of the people with dementia in creating the route, informing neighbors and getting to know the local entrepreneurs. This did not only keep the social costs down, but it was a lot of fun for them as well.
One of the benefits of this project that we were not expecting was creating awareness about Odensehuis in the local community. Though many have heard of the Odensehuis few actually knew where it was. Now that there is a physical path, people in the neighbourhood know exactly where it is.
This is an ideal project for businesses in the area to support as though the path is for people with dementia, the path leads everyone to the local shopping area. Sympathetic and a topic that touches all of us.
Ideally it would be great to have local businesses sponsoring this path to reduce the costs to the gemente who could then spread their budget to include more dementia day care centers.
Interesting project and great press coverage!