Background and Objectives There has been a proliferation of research on dementia-friendly communities in recent years, particularly on interpersonal and social aspects. Nonetheless, the neighbourhood built environment remains a co-constituent of the lived experience of people living with dementia (PLWD) that is amenable to interventions for health and well-being in the community. This scoping review presents a narrative synthesis of empirical research on dementia-friendly neighbourhoods, with a focus on the built environment and its associated socio-behavioural aspects. Planning and design principles are distilled to identify research and policy implications. Research Design and Methods We reviewed 29 articles identified through a systematic search of AgeLine, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Global Health, MEDLINE, and Scopus. Peer-reviewed articles that employed quantitative and/or qualitative methods in community settings were included. Results An equal number of studies focused on behavioural/psychosocial aspects of the built environment and assessment of specific environmental features. The former often used qualitative methods, whereas statistical methods were common in studies on discrete features of the neighbourhood built environment. Few studies focused on rural contexts. Emerging research areas include interactions between dementia risk factors and neighbourhood environments to support primary and secondary prevention. Discussion and Implications The body of literature needs expansion into planning and design fields to foster community participation of PLWD by optimizing environmental stimuli, minimizing environmental barriers, and engaging PLWD in dementia-friendly community initiatives. While evidence has accumulated on landmarks and social participation at the individual level, research at the community- and policy- levels are limited. This requires advanced mixed methods.

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Background and Objectives Various aspects of the neighborhood environment have been shown to correlate with older adults’ health. Socio-ecological models of health posit that interventions in the living environment can influence population health. Yet, there are no scales to comprehensively measure older people’s experiences of their neighborhoods especially in dense urban contexts. This study analyzes the psychometric properties and factor structure of a holistic measure of Older People’s Neighborhood Experience (OpenX) to understand constituent factors of residential satisfaction and well-being in dense urban contexts. Research Design and Methods Participants were 1,011 community-dwelling older adults aged 50 and older in Singapore. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questions were drawn to measure physical and social aspects of the neighborhood as well as sociodemographic variables. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to obtain a shorter version; content validity, internal consistency, and external validity were assessed. Results The OpenX has a 4-dimensional structure, explaining 45.5% of the variance of neighborhood experience. They are communal affordance, embeddedness, environment pleasantness, and time outdoors. Good reliability and validity were found, including Cronbach’s alpha of 0.827. The correlation between neighborhood experience and objectively measured proximity to parks and fitness corners approached significance (p = .082). Discussion and Implications The 16-item OpenX demonstrated good psychometric properties. With reference to the transdisciplinary neighborhood health framework, it is useful for assessing older adults’ neighborhood environment, identifying neighborhoods for pilot population health interventions, and understanding how the neighborhood environment affects older adults’ health.

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