Older Adults’ Views of the Connections between Neighbourhood Built Environment and Health in Singapore

Increasing life expectancy in cities has heightened the urgency to understand how built environments affect the various health dimensions of the ageing population. This study explores community-dwelling older adults’ ( n  = 80; aged 52 and above) perceptions of the links between neighbourhood built...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of population ageing 2022-03, Vol.15 (1), p.279-299
Main Authors: Bhuyan, Md Rashed, Yuen, Belinda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Aesthetics
Aging
Amenities
Built environment
Content analysis
Demography
Density
Geriatrics/Gerontology
Groups
Health status
Infrastructure
Life expectancy
Life span
Medicine/Public Health
Mental health
Navigation behavior
Neighborhoods
Older people
Pedestrian safety
Person-Environment fit
Population studies
Public spaces
Retrofitting
Safety
Social Sciences
Sociology
Urban environments
Urgency
Wayfinding
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Summary:Increasing life expectancy in cities has heightened the urgency to understand how built environments affect the various health dimensions of the ageing population. This study explores community-dwelling older adults’ ( n  = 80; aged 52 and above) perceptions of the links between neighbourhood built environment and their physical, social and mental health in Singapore. Content analysis of focus group discussions reveals that Singaporean older adults associate different but overlapping built environment factors with the physical, social and mental dimensions of health. Safety, amenities, pedestrian-friendly spaces, transport infrastructure, and social and public spaces are most frequently identified with older adults’ health. In particular, safety and pedestrian-friendly spaces are considered most important to older adults’ physical health while safety and amenities are most important for social health, and aesthetics and wayfinding for mental health. These findings underscore the diversities and complexities of everchanging person-environment fit that must be considered while planning, designing and/or retrofitting neighbourhoods and outdoor spaces in high-density Asian cities.
ISSN:1874-7884
1874-7876
DOI:10.1007/s12062-021-09328-4