Ageing in Place: A Model for Multi-Generational Housing Architecture in Mumbai

Mumbai is steadily moving towards becoming a senior city. With increasing life expectancy and a growing population of elderly residents, the city’s dense neighbourhoods are facing an urgent need for transformation. Conventional housing models, often designed for nuclear families and short-term occupancy, are no longer sufficient to support the physical, social, and emotional needs of ageing citizens.

This project, Ageing in Place, by Tejas Amrutkar, proposes a future-forward architectural strategy rooted in ageing in place architecture: a model that enables senior citizens to continue living within familiar environments while receiving the care, accessibility, and social engagement they require.

The Core Idea: Ageing in Place Architecture

Ageing in place architecture focuses on allowing people to grow older within their own homes and neighbourhoods rather than relocating to isolated care facilities. In a city like Mumbai, where community networks, informal social interactions, and walkable markets play a vital role in daily life, this approach becomes especially relevant.

The project reimagines existing neighbourhoods as multi-generational continued care environments, integrating housing, healthcare, social spaces, and public amenities into a cohesive urban system. Instead of creating exclusive senior housing blocks, the proposal embeds senior-friendly infrastructure within active urban fabrics.

Retrofitting Neighbourhoods Instead of Replacing Them

Rather than demolishing existing structures, the design approach prioritizes retrofitting. Existing residential blocks, markets, and shared courtyards are carefully adapted to support mobility, accessibility, and safety for elderly residents.

Key architectural interventions include:

• Barrier-free circulation systems with ramps, lifts, and accessible staircases
• Clear visual connections and intuitive wayfinding for ease of navigation
• Structural additions that allow vertical and horizontal expansion without disrupting daily life

This strategy ensures that seniors remain connected to familiar streets, neighbours, and routines, an essential aspect of emotional well-being.

Multi-Generational Living as Urban Strength

A defining feature of the proposal is its emphasis on multi-generational living. The architecture deliberately avoids isolating seniors. Instead, it creates shared spaces where children, working adults, and elderly residents naturally interact.

Courtyards, shaded walkways, community platforms, and semi-public terraces become spaces of informal exchange. These areas support daily activities such as walking, resting, socializing, and observing street life, critical elements for maintaining mental and physical health in old age.

By allowing multiple generations to coexist, the neighbourhood evolves into a self-sustaining social ecosystem.

Architecture as a Tool for Care and Dignity

The project integrates care facilities directly into the neighbourhood fabric. Small-scale healthcare units, assisted living support spaces, and community services are distributed strategically rather than centralized in institutional buildings.

Architectural elements such as shaded balconies, planted edges, and human-scaled interventions enhance comfort while responding to Mumbai’s climate. The use of open corridors, natural ventilation, and semi-open social spaces ensures that the built environment remains both functional and emotionally supportive.

This approach reframes care architecture, not as something hidden or separate, but as an everyday part of urban life.

Responding to Mumbai’s Dense Urban Reality

Mumbai’s compact plots, high density, and layered social life present unique challenges. This project responds by working with density rather than against it. Vertical additions, modular units, and adaptable building systems allow neighbourhoods to evolve incrementally.

The proposal demonstrates how ageing in place architecture can be realistically implemented in dense Indian cities without relying on large-scale relocation or expensive redevelopment.

A Scalable Vision for Indian Cities

While rooted in Mumbai, the ideas explored in this project have broader relevance. As Indian cities continue to age, the need for inclusive, adaptable, and humane housing models will only increase.

By combining neighbourhood retrofitting, multi-generational housing, and integrated care systems, Ageing in Place offers a scalable architectural framework for future urban living: one that respects memory, community, and dignity at every stage of life.

Project Credits

Project Title: Ageing in Place

Focus: Multi-Generational Continued Care & Neighbourhood Retrofitting

Location: Mumbai, India

Designed by: Tejas Amrutkar