Researchers and policy makers have long recognized the elderly’s desire to age in place at their familial environment for as long as possible. The ability of the elderly to age in place would be distinctive, depending on the individual’s needs and how responsive the local environments addressing their needs. Many literatures acknowledged the potentials of the elders to sustain independent lifestyle through building a community life, despite of their gradual decline in functional capability. With the anticipation of doubling the city elderly population in the next couple decades, there is an urging need of reviewing how compatible the existing community space fostering the elders’ physical and psychological well-being.
This study aimed at identifying strategies to improve the design and planning of community space in Hong Kong older districts. The analysis for this study comprises five sets of assessments identifying the special socio-spatial needs of the elders, existing problems in community space in the older districts affecting the elderly’s ability to satisfying their socio-spatial needs, investigating enhancements in design and planning of community space and the shortcomings of the existing system, as well as exploring the potential improvements in policy framework facilitating better implementation of the recommended strategies.
This study concluded that the elders tend to engage in age-appropriate activities within the activity space that are relevant to their functional capability. The capacity, accessibility, proximity of the community space to their residences as well as the availability of universal design and weatherproof protection features are among the key determining factors affecting their decision (particularly for the more vulnerable group) on how frequently attending the community space for active and passive activities.
While a number of legislations and government policies already in effect aiming at creating more inclusive environment, without having long-range land use plans in place at the neighbourhood level guiding the districts’ redevelopment, it created challenges of establishing comprehensible collaboration among government departments and agencies to steer community transformation in a cohesive manner. The recommendation of advancing neighbourhood redevelopment plan for older districts not only would allow for the review on the existing shortcomings in community space design, it can also formulate locally appropriate neighbourhood level revitalization strategies and strengthening the implementation of the strategies and guidelines from the community perspective. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/195119 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Tse, Kit-ha, Jacqueline, 謝潔霞 |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Rights | Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License, The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works. |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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