Känsla och mening i trädgården : riktlinjer för utformning av utemiljö vid demensboenden med tillämpning på projekt Vega i Lomma

Sammanfattning: This thesis puts together general guidelines for the design of outdoor environment at nursing homes for people with dementia. The goal is to give the residents a greater quality of life with the garden.The garden must be safe and secure while offering places for fellowship or retirement and experiences of joy and competence. The plant material and other elements in the garden are inserted to stimulate the senses and to inspire to different activities. The paper describes the health promoting effects of nature and gardens by referring to scientific studies. These studies encompass the impact of nature on all human beings as well as how the outdoor environment affects our target group, elderly people with dementia. An essential part of the work focus on the conditions in a garden for people with dementia, on the contact between residence and garden and the access to surrounding life. Eventually, the general guidelines are applied to a real building project – the Vega project in Lomma,a new nursing home for persons with dementia. Study visits and interviews were made in order to gain knowledge useful in the planning of the garden nearby Vega. In our discussion we make proposals for the use of the garden in the daily work at the nursing home.