Home and neighbourhood, two deeply personal forms of place attachment, are created through the agency of an individual and community to transform space to reflect their needs and personality. Drawing on extensive qualitative, participatory fieldwork in Durban, South Africa, the purpose of this article is to explore how individuals living within state-subsidised aged housing transform the built environment through everyday living practices and ways of belonging, and in turn, how the design of the built environment within the building shapes resident’s sense of home, belonging and neighbourhood. Specifically, it responds to a lack of literature on how aged residents read, react, and interact with the built environment in these spaces, particularly within Global South or African contexts. Findings suggests that due to the built environment, residents have had little scope to create home, and instead feel disconnected from their living space, while also hindering the formation of a sense of neighbourhood. As a result, many residents are poorly adjusted to their new lives, which has resulted in a number of unintended social consequences, including loneliness and depression, leading to conflict, stress, and in some cases, death. Recommendations stress the importance of design features which allow for continuity from old life to new, the development of functional and attractive social spaces, and co-creative design processes for future buildings.

通过个人和社区的代理来创建家庭和邻里，这是两种深具个人感的场所依恋形式，以改变空间以反映其需求和个性。本文利用南非德班地区广泛的定性，参与性实地考察方法，旨在探讨生活在有国家补贴的老年住房中的人们如何通过日常生活习惯和归属方式，以及如何通过设计来改变建筑环境。建筑物内建筑环境的变化塑造了居民的居家，归属感和社区感。具体来说，它是针对缺乏文献资料的，这些文献缺乏关于老年人在这些空间中如何阅读，反应和与建筑环境互动的信息，尤其是在全球南方或非洲背景下。调查结果表明，由于建筑环境的原因，居民们几乎没有空间建房，反而感到与生活空间的脱节，同时也阻碍了邻里感的形成。结果，许多居民对新生活的适应能力很差，这导致了许多意想不到的社会后果，包括孤独和沮丧，导致冲突，压力，甚至在某些情况下导致死亡。建议强调了设计功能的重要性，这些功能允许从旧生活到新生活的连续性，功能性和吸引力性社交空间的开发以及未来建筑的共同创造设计过程。这导致了许多意想不到的社会后果，包括孤独和沮丧，导致冲突，压力，甚至在某些情况下导致死亡。建议强调了设计功能的重要性，这些功能允许从旧生活到新生活的连续性，功能性和吸引力性社交空间的开发以及未来建筑的共同创造设计过程。这导致了许多意想不到的社会后果，包括孤独和沮丧，导致冲突，压力，甚至在某些情况下导致死亡。建议强调了设计功能的重要性，这些功能允许从旧生活到新生活的连续性，功能性和吸引力性社交空间的开发以及未来建筑的共同创造设计过程。