Photo: E. Muffang

In this day and age, rural areas also need new concepts for age-appropriate forms of living. Traditional family and neighbourhood networks can no longer be counted on to provide everyday assistance, opportunities for encounters and care services. Residential care communities can fill this gap, developing into the centre of a caring village society. Such a project is currently taking shape in the central southwestern German village of Kirrweiler, where the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for “Herta-Kuhn-Höfe” took place at the end of April. The Herta-Kuhn-Stiftung and the non-profit organisation GSW Speyer are behind the ongoing construction of this exemplary housing and senior citizen project that includes a barrier-free residential care community for ten people in need of support as well as nine low-barrier multi-generation flats, five of which qualify as “service flats”.  

This combination of intergenerational housing options and opportunities for encounters will form a new social centre in the Kirrweiler village centre. In addition to the foundation’s offices here that will serve as a contact point for the residents as well as a multi-purpose room for meetings and discussions, barrier-free access to the communal use of the parish garden will also be created. “What makes this project special is the combination of living and housing solutions for the elderly with the participation of citizens in shaping the neighbourhood”, says SAGST project manager Christian Wüst, describing the pioneering nature of the project. “As a foundation, we are pleased to support this pilot project and, like those responsible, are delighted that construction has begun on ‘Herta-Kuhn-Höfe’.” The name comes from a citizen of Kirrweiler who died in 2018 and who had wanted to enable elderly people to live a self-determined life in their familiar surroundings. To this end, she bought up the corresponding vacant buildings in central southwest Germany and made a large part of her assets available in her foundation. The project also includes mobility services and technology-assisted living.