Growing Compact

Abstract

We argue it is time to revisit urban development frameworks to bring in more social and people-centric approaches to designing and managing cities. Especially in high density urban contexts where people face constant challenges of negotiating diversity in close proximity, and as global populations age, new design issues are posed for such components of social sustainability as liveability, quality of life, accessibility, equity, health, happiness, social capital, and civic participation. It is projected that senior citizens will make up 21.1% of the world population by 2050 (UN, 2013). Increased information availability make participatory changes in urban planning processes feasible, and will increasingly be demanded by new generations of seniors who are more educated, active and empowered. Top-down institutional urban planning cannot capture how each place and community interprets and deals with ageing and density locally. Based on case studies in Singapore and Japan, we propose that, for dense urban environments, much further specific attention needs to be placed on the role of public places and, in particular, collaborative, local place-making initiatives by and with senior urbanites. We call this the "ageing-friendly place-making".