#19 - Living in Place feat. Linda Kafa (LiveABLE)

Build Our Future Podcast

At the end of the day, everything begins in the home, so why not make it the best possible place it can be? Today, we talk about home modification and the Living in Place movement with Linda Kafka, founder of the Living in Place Institute, where she helps industry leaders work together to improve designs and products in every home. We kick things off hearing from Linda about her vast experience in the design and build industry leading up to her current work. We talk about the birthplace of the Live in Place movement beginning with the aim to make spaces more friendly to senior citizens, and how it has shifted to envisioning more comfortable, safe and accessible homes for all. Linda tells us what living in place means, and how it is concerned with making spaces adaptable to us as we grow rather than vice versa. From there, we discuss how accessibility concerns play out in commercial versus residential design and build communities, touching on building codes, interchangeable terms, and more. Linda gets into the challenges of shifting consumer mindsets toward prioritizing more livable spaces next, talking about learning resources and the need for industry leaders to become more educated on this topic and the lucrative industry surrounding it. Linda herself is helping in this regard with her upcoming LivABLE Environment Conference, which she does a great job of outlining too. Wrapping up, we discuss some of the practicalities of making spaces friendlier, as well as new trends and features that we could see in homes of the future, so be sure to tune in for all this and more!