Ageless Design

Australian cities and towns face considerable challenges in meeting the needs of the young and the elderly over the coming decades. Both groups are easily overlooked as we reshape our cities for the future. Although they have a small voice in the planning and development of cities, we will have gone a long way towards creating true ‘liveability’ for future generations if we take their needs seriously.

With a lot of overlap in what the young, the elderly and other disadvantaged groups need from the places in which they live, improvements for one group will often benefit all.

Children in Australian cities

Children and young people as a group can be described as everyone from birth to 18 years of age. The proportion of children and young people in the total Australian population is decreasing, however the number of children living with their families in Australian cities is increasing.

International policy on children in cities

The Child Friendly Cities (CFC) initiative of UNICEF is aimed at realising the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at the local level. This initiative describes a Child Friendly City as a local system of good governance committed to fulfilling children’s rights. More specifically, a Child Friendly City is actively engaged in fulfilling the rights of every young citizen.

The elderly in Australian cities

People aged 65 and over constitute Australia’s fastest growing age group. In 2013 they represented almost 15% of Australia’s population, with growth projected to continue into the foreseeable future as living standards and the quality of public health continue to rise. It is vital, therefore, to create ‘age-friendly’ cities and towns.

Common issues for the young and the elderly 

The needs of both groups are easily overlooked in planning and development processes and should be given a greater voice.

World Health Organisation recommendations on age-friendly cities

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established a framework of eight interconnected domains that recognise older persons’ needs in the urban environment. WHO’s global network of age-friendly cities and communities aims to make communities a great place in which to grow old in and to share mutual learnings, knowledge and support.

The WHO approach stresses the importance of accessible transport for older people within cities, including access to public transport, parking and accessible driving conditions. Affordability and access to health care services is also crucial to keep older people independent and active in the community. Appropriate housing design in proximity to services can reinforce social participation. Another key issue is the importance of social inclusion in the social, civic and economic life of cities. Cities and communities should consider becoming part of the WHO’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. To date, eight Australian cities have joined the network.

Participation in the social life of the city

Young and old people need to be active participants in family and social life in cities. The young need to socialise with all age groups and learn about the risks and opportunities of urban life, initially with parent supervision and later as independent young citizens. Safe social interaction, both organised and informal, is also valuable for the elderly to enhance their quality of life especially when they have more leisure time after retirement.

Healthy lifestyles for the young and the old

Health care and education are important to the young and the old. The development and design of cities can do much to enhance the physical development and health of the young. The elderly also have time and the need for exercise. Both groups value independence and the ability to engage with urban life without being car dependent. Access to sporting facilities and ability to safely ride or walk to destinations or use public transport is of primary importance to the young and the old.

Safety

Cities therefore need to be safe and accessible to all ages both in the day and at night. Urban living environments need to be free from pollution with public spaces providing free access to drinking water, sun, shade and places to stop, sit and socialise. Public space and city services need to be accessible to all regardless of ethnic origin, religion, income, gender or disability.

Conflict between cars, bikes and pedestrians is an ever present issue in all Australian cities and towns with a high degree of regulation through road authorities and local councils that has tended to favour the safe and efficient operation of cars, but is gradually focussing more on the needs of pedestrians and cyclists who are often children or the elderly.

Design of public space needs to consider principles of CPTED: ‘Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design’, a theory that has developed since the era of Jane Jacobs in the 1960s. Most states in Australia have produced CPTED guidelines to assist the planning of new urban areas and retro-fitting of established areas where people feel unsafe or crime is more prevalent.

Nature in the city

Convenient contact with nature through access to parks, gardens and well-designed streets should be available to all citizens and especially the young and the elderly.

Urban Australian children are increasingly disconnected from nature, often being driven to and from school and increasingly growing up without the traditional Aussie backyard, not to mention more and more time spent with phones, computers and digital devices. Play areas are now being designed to partially compensate, but there is no substitute for spending extended, relatively unsupervised periods outside with dirt, sand, water, pets and plants whether it be at the beach or in the bush.

Studies have also shown that spending extended time in gardens and parks enhances the mental well being of the elderly. 

Horticultural Therapy is a recognised body of knowledge that promotes the health and psychological benefits of interaction with plants especially for the young and the old in developed countries worldwide.

Special gardens are often developed for children and the elderly with special needs including those with dementia or lack of vision. Learning how to grow and cook food is increasingly taught in Australian primary schools and communities. Gardening is also valued by many Australian retirees for both the exercise and satisfaction of growing their own produce.

Streets for children and the elderly

Australian cities and towns have been largely developed around the car in the post-World War II era. 

Inner city areas of Australia’s larger state capital cities, especially Sydney and Melbourne, have good public transport that predate the era of the car, including rail and tram, networks that are now at capacity and expanding to meet increased demand. These higher density areas are in many ways more suited to independent living for the young and the elderly because of the public transport systems, walkability of their streets and the access available to a wide range of facilities and open space without driving.

Lower density suburbs and rural towns throughout Australia developed over the past 70 years are very dependent on use of the private car. They often have parks, schools and other community facilities, but because of the lower density, access to them is most convenient by driving, which limits the young and the old to some degree and of course requires consumption of energy. The carbon footprint of development was not considered when these suburban areas were planned.

In the future, autonomous electric cars may offer a partial solution, but continuing to accommodate growth in this fashion is unsustainable because of the high cost and the fact that sprawling suburbia takes up huge areas of land, the supply of which is limited. 

The future of our cities revolves around finding new ways to retrofit existing suburbs with nodes of employment and higher density mixed-use development that maximise use of existing services and infrastructure including public transport.

The next generation of ageing population: ‘the baby boomers’ (those born in the decade or two after the World War II), have different housing needs. They will need streets and parks where they can walk or ride bikes for exercise and, ideally, access to a wide range of facilities and social and recreational opportunities as well as daily contact with nature. The ‘baby boomer’ generation is relatively wealthy, healthy, active and independent and keen to live out the major part of their final few decades independently in their communities. Cities will have to be better designed to fully cater to these needs.

Better housing is important, but it is the quality of the public realm that needs the most effort; streets need to be more than a space for cars, they need to be designed for pedestrian comfort, safety and convenience. Landscaping within cities now needs to be carefully considered to maximise their cooling effect in hot weather, something that will increase in Australia over the coming decades, exacerbating the risk of death for the elderly. The effect of climate change will also lead to increasing storm events and water shortages, so urban landscapes need to be designed to capture and re-use storm water at every opportunity.

Because Australian cities have all been planned with generous road reserves – with some inner city areas undergoing an unprecedented boom in high density housing development, often displacing industry and lower density retail, commercial or office uses – there is a new emerging interest in retrofitting streets by displacing bitumen for green space including cycle paths and public plazas and play areas.

Parks and green space in cities

As cities increase in density and the effects of climate change take effect there will be a need to ensure networks of public and open spaces are retained, expanded where possible and enhanced to meet the needs of all citizens, especially the young and the old. Parks and streets will have to work harder to provide for both young and old to move freely and exercise and socialise in the public realm. New forms of open space will need to be developed to better cater to the young and the elderly.

Parks in Australia already do quite a good job providing for the young. Children’s playgrounds are widely distributed through residential areas and are subject to safety regulations. Successful playgrounds provide a range of play equipment and age appropriate zones allowing for creative, adventure and nature play. All kinds of sports are catered to from skateboarding to club sports to sophisticated indoor courts and swimming facilities.

The elderly are catered to with golf, bowls, gyms and swimming facilities as well as safe walking and cycling paths especially in parks and along rivers and coastlines, but much more can be done to extend and enhance these systems. 

Demographic trends in Australia suggest that catering for the residential, health and recreation needs of retirees will become increasingly important over the coming decades.

Conclusion

Australian cities do provide many facilities and opportunities for the young and the old to participate, however urban areas are in transition in many places, as we cope with growth and we slowly begin to reduce the carbon footprint of towns and cities. We also need to adapt our cities to improve resilience in the face of climate change.

This needs to be done with a clear eye on the interests of the young and the old. Increased density need not disadvantage these sectors of the population. Better public transport and well-designed streets and public space developed using democratic consultation processes can work to the benefit of all.