Recent changes to the demographic composition of society have affected the ways people live and house themselves. The post-World War II image of the family, made up of a breadwinner father, stay-at-home mother and dependent children, was so persuasive that home builders could easily – and successfully – view the bulk of their potential clientele as a homogeneous buying block. A rapidly changing societal make-up and the emergence of new lifestyle trends have created demands for contemporary housing types that are small, flexible and efficient. Paramount among those changes is the rise of non-traditional and small households. The number of single, childless couples and single-headed families has increased several-fold in the past half century, meriting reconsideration of common housing prototypes.

In addition, the average age of the population in most nations has constantly been on the rise. The numbers of those aged 65 and over have more than doubled since the 1970s. This has created a market demand for accessible and adaptable dwelling forms and other living arrangements in response to senior citizens’ needs. The population involved in these changes has reached a critical mass, which validates the alternative approaches being explored by policy makers, designers and developers. Four dwelling concepts that respond to these social transformations are outlined in this section.