In the beginning of the 20th century, there were 87 million elderly people aged 65 and older. However, by the years 2030 and 2050, elderly people in China will rapidly growth to 243–252 million and 352–398 million, respectively. (Zeng, Y., 2010) The population aging transition will take place in China with this staggering rapidity, compared to European societies. Predictably, as for this aging pressure, Chinese society still needs more time to react to it. Ageing is not only a challenge for the society but also a big challenge for design. Along with the increasing numbers of the elderly, they cannot be ignored by design any more. The discussion here aspires to move the design mindset beyond accessibility or in other words ‘Design for disability’, and introduce ‘Design for capability’ as a process of social innovation. In the paper, the design research will focus on meta-design, as well as participatory design and social innovation as auxiliary research, for designing a ‘seed’ as a change agent. The ‘seed’, as a meta-design solution, can be described as ‘a shared design endeavor aimed at sustaining emergence, evolution and adaptation’ (Giaccardi, E., 2005). It offers a framework for both designers and users to change original mindsets in the practice. (Giaccardi, E., 2005) Furthermore, the following question will be carried through the whole research: how to reposition ourselves as designers on the intersection of meta-design, design for social innovation and participatory design? What is the design approach to generate tools that can encourage inactive elderly citizens as ‘passive receivers’ to transform as ‘active participants’? How can the tools studied here contribute in a synergic relationship within stakeholders as a mean to make elderly citizens’ urban living more sustainable in terms of participating, learning and expressing actively?