Wow, this was a great read. I live in The Netherlands and was unaware of this project. Too bad it's one of a kind and only accomodates so little people; I'd love to be cared for in this way should I ever need it.
I live in the Netherlands too, and I also never heard of it. But what I understand from it, it's not really a village, it's just a large complex in the city of Weesp (the article misspelled it as "Wheesp").
Despite having never heard of it, it saddens me we don't have more of these style of nursing homes. Last year my grandma passed away as a result of Ahlzheimer disease, she spent the last year of her life in a traditional nursing home, which was a really depsressing place, she would been far better of in a place like Hogewey.
Both my grandmothers spent about a decade each in nursing homes due to Alzheimers. Both of them had clearly been trying hard to conceal their dementia for several years prior to that, because they were terrified accepting that something was wrong, and terrified of ending in a nursing home.
Once things had gone so far that they could not take care of themselves, and could not manage with the help of their spouses, they just fell apart within months.
