• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.20
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• pp.279-292
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• 2015

As the aging society is rapidly coming, the needs for the elderly-friendly living environments was also increasing. The purpose of this study was to examine how frequently 25 neighborhood facilities were used by the elderly and what facility they wanted to be arranged within their walking distance. The subject of this study were 158 elderlies who were their ages of more than 65 years and lived in Busan. The data were collected by using an one to one interview method. Findings were as follows; 1) The elderly used very frequently facility for the elderly such as a senior center, walking road, and park and green space. Also, bus stop, traditional market, and resting facilities were used relatively frequently. 2) Some neighborhood facilities were used not frequently, but periodically. 3) Using frequencies of some neighborhood facilities were different by the elderly's characteristics. 4) Among 25 neighborhood facilities, the facilities which the old persons wanted to be arranged within walking distance were medical clinics, facilities for the elderly, subway station, bus stop, traditional market, park and green space, walking road, and food market/convenience store.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.1-18
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• 2022

Prior studies have shown positive effects of outdoor activities on the elderly's physical, mental and social health. 'Active aging' and 'age-friendly' neighborhood can be created by modifying the experiences and perceptions of the outdoor environment. This study aims to investigate the outdoor activities of the elderly living in a low-income elderly concentrated area and their perception of the neighborhood environment. We also explored the context of interactions between the facilitators and inhibitors of outdoor activities on the basis of temporal, spatial, and social conditions. We used a mixed method approach by collecting two different types of qualitative GIS data : observation maps of the main places and individual cognitive maps with in-depth interviews. The observational map analysis indicated that the preferred places and activity patterns differ by age, gender, and size of the group. The cognitive map and interviews demonstrated that the elderly's activity goals and perception of the landscape differ by places such as forests, parks, streams, open-spaces, vegetable gardens, and alleys. The elderly's desire for outdoor activities can be better fulfilled when their front doors and alleys are well-connected to an open-sight pleasant space. Familiarity is an important factor for the elderly, therefore it is important to remove the psychological and physical barriers by increasing the legibility and accessibility of places. In addition, social interactions and conflicts can have a significant influence on the elderly's occupation of space in the neighborhood environment.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.669-686
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate types of neighborhood environments and to verify whether the types of neighborhood environments are directly related to life satisfaction of older adults. To achieve this goal, I used'2014 National Survey on Older Koreans' data which surveyed the older adults aged 65 and over living in the community and a total of 10,281 respondents were analyzed. To determine the types of neighborhood environment, the time taken by walking from community organizations or places such as grocery stores, medical centers, administrative agencies, welfare centers, public transportation was used as an neighborhood environment indicators. As a results, there were six types of neighborhood environment: a leisure-welfare walk-limited type(20.3%), a leisure-welfare long-distance type(15.5%), a balanced proximity type(7.8%), a store-traffic type(35.8%), a traffic proximity type(10.1%), and a marginalized area type(11.3%). Compared to the balanced proximity type, older adults living in a store-traffic type and a marginalized area type were more likely to have negative life satisfaction. older adults who have higher life satisfaction were more likely to be female, more educated, get higher household income, and have a spouses or partner. Moreover, the better the health conditions, the higher the frequency of contact with children, siblings, friends and neighbors, the higher the satisfaction of life. Finding from the study highlight the importance of neighborhood environment in late life and provide implications for building age-friendly community.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.30-39
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• 2014

Korean society is running fast toward a super aging society. This means that new solutions for new problems of aged people are needed. An important area to prove is the aging-friendly neighborhood environments supporting casual contacts and meetings of old residents. This study attempts to suggest neighborhood design indicators which support casual contacts and meetings of old residents. The subjects were 24 professionals who had studied on housing environment for the elderly. They answered through the on-line questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of items which evaluate the appropriateness of classification of neighborhood area and the indicators of each area using 5-points Likert scale. Also open questions asking adding or eliminating areas or indicator and other opinions were included. On the basis of these answers, the aging-friendly neighborhood design indicators supporting contacts and meetings of old residents was developed. They are consisted of 7 areas in neighborhood and 60 indicators. Those areas were semi-public residential area, commercial area, cultural & educational area, health & medical area, park & green area, walkway, and public traffic facilities. This would be used to design the neighborhood environments that are aging-friendly and facilitating casual contacts and meetings of all residents, especially old residents.

• Design Convergence Study
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.199-211
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• 2016

The study examined how age-friendly their living environments the aged perceived and it's significant difference depending on their characteristics. The subject were 96 old persons who aged more than 60 years and lived in Nagasaki city, Japan. They asked how far each neighborhood facility related to the aged was located from their houses, and the age-friendliness of walk way, traffic, multi-family houses for the aged, and interior space of their living houses. Data were collected by using one to one interview. Results were as follows: 1) Most neighborhood facilities related to the aged were located within a walking distance or 10 min. distance by bus from their houses. 2) Among 5 areas of living environments, while traffic, house interior, and pedestrians road were relatively age-friendly, the amount of multi-unit dwellings for the elderly and the usability of wheelchair users in house interior were not age-friendly. 3) Age and education level of the aged influenced on the age-friendliness of their living environments.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.217-226
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• 2015

As the aging society is globally increasing, the guide for the aged-friendly city is suggested by WHO and many cities are preparing to meet with it. The base of this guide for an age-friendly city is an active aging. This study examined how degree the neighborhood environment is age-friendly from older persons' standpoints. The data were collected through the interview with old persons who aged more than 65 years, 117 persons in an urban area and 110 ones in a rural area. The age-friendly degree of neighborhood environment was examined from two aspects. One is how close 12 neighborhood facilities were from the elderly's houses. Another one is how degree the elderly were considered in 4 areas: pedestrian road, traffic, the amount of housing for the elderly, and space layouts of their houses. Findings were as follows. First, the elderly related neighborhood facilities in urban area were closer located to old persons' houses than in rural area, except the senior center. Second, in case of the age-friendly degree of their neighborhood environments, the space layout of house was the highest, and then traffic, pedestrian road, and the amount of housing for the elderly, in order. The consideration degree of wheelchair users was the lowest. Third, the age-friendly degree of pedestrian road, traffic, and room layout of house in rural area were higher than in urban area. However, the amount of housing for the elderly in urban area was higher than in rural area.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.3-23
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• 2020

This study aims to conceptualize the settlement inclusivity for overcoming social exclusion and the decline in quality of life of older people and to examine its effects on their mental health. The concept of the settlement inclusivity for older people focuses on the immediate environment around the place where they live. We proposed two domains for the conceptual framework; social domain that provides opportunities for community cohesion; spatial domain that provides security of residential area and access to basic services within walking distance. The social domain was represented by participation and interdependence, while the spatial domain by security and accessibility in the settlement inclusivity. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression model was constructed with 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans data to analyze the factors influencing depressive symptoms of older adults. The empirical results demonstrate that increased level of neighborhood network and social participation is associated with a decrease in the number of depressive symptoms. In addition, higher satisfaction in neighborhood environment and good accessibility to public transport/stores are associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Finally, housing condition and home ownership have a moderating effect on the relationship between social network/participation and depressive symptoms level, whereas they have no direct effects on depressive symptoms. This study demonstrates multi-dimensionally and mutually significant associations between settlement inclusivity and depressive symptoms for older people providing implications for urban planning and policies to improve mental well-being of older population.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.181-209
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• 2018

This study aims to examine the relationship between physical environment and depression symptoms of middle-aged and older adults in metro city. To verify correlates of community environment and depression, mediating effect model structured by social capital and sense of coherence(SOC) were used. For the purpose, a survey was conducted aged 48 - 70 from the local community centers and senior welfare centers in Seoul, and the total collected cases were 331. After data cleaning, total 309 cases were used. The structured equation modeling applied to analyse the direct and indirect effects. The findings were followed : First, the community environment did not directly affect level of depression. Second, in the indirect effect analysis, social capital was not statistically significant, thus indirect effect was confirmed only through the SOC. To be specific, the higher the satisfaction of the physical environment increased SOC, and decreased the level of depression. The results of this study shed lights on practical interventions to promote mental health of the middle-aged and older adults those who are exposed to poor community environment.