Abstract
With the worldwide increase in the elderly population, interest in the quality of life of the elderly has sparked many studies on age-friendly cities, but most of them have focused on improving the physical environment promoting the social participation of the elderly in existing urban settings. The purpose of this research is to understand how the specifically planned community facilities and physical environment are being used and how they influence the formation of community in new towns in terms of aging in place to suggest a direction for revitalizing the communities of the elderly. This research identified characteristics of the newly formed senior community in the City of Sejong through a qualitative study including interviews with users of two distinct elderly community facilities, the "Senior Culture Center" and "Senior Club," focusing on two planned neighborhoods. The usage patterns and characteristics of the elderly community facilities under study are summarized as follows. First, there is a lack of diversity in community facilities for the elderly and a shortage of critical facilities, such as community restaurants and public spa. Second, there is stratification of the elderly among specific facility users. Third, indifference toward the various lifestyles of elderly people creates a blind spot for the elderly's use of community facilities. Fourth, the mobility problems of the elderly, such as difficulties with pedestrian environments and public transportation, influence their use of community facilities. Based on the findings, this research suggested three ways to revitalize the elderly community. First, relocating and redistributing programs of senior clubs is recommended to avoid redundancy and inefficient sharing of the facilities in the community. Second, it is necessary to resolve the stratification of the elderly by expanding exchange opportunities through physical and psychological linkages between the "Senior Culture Center" and "Senior Club." Finally, creating links with various public facilities, such as medical, religious, and school facilities, will enable elderly people in blind spots to use community facilities easily.
