Smart community-based services for older persons with disability: a desk review and analysis of design projects

Persons aging with disability (AWD) experienced the onset of disability in the early-mid life and their experience is quite different from those who acquire age-related disabilities in late life (disability with aging, DWA). Appropriate intervention models and services are required for these populations to enhance independent living and inclusion in a life-span and ecosystemic perspective. Smart Community-Based Services (SCBS) exploit technologies and systems to empower the persons into more integrated and coordinated networks. This study analyses the state of art in SCBS through a desk review. The 11 selected projects range from small to large-scale projects, adopt different approaches from techno-centric to user-centric, and exploit diverse key-enabling technologies to form smart ecosystems. Even if the research on this topic is still limited and often experimental, SCBS has the potential to address cross-population AWD/DWA needs, and connect diverse environments by orchestrating technologies, services and key-persons in the communities and favouring a more sustainable service planning.