We suggest an assessment tool for evaluating the age-inclusiveness of public spaces, taking into account the existing urban design and based on the needs and preferences of the target population. Methodologically, our study combines behavioral research and observational interviews with insights from urban design practice. We illustrate an application of the tool to identifying and prioritizing interventions that improve a daily walking route quality for the elderly in the Netherlands.@en

In developed countries, the share of the elderly (65+) is growing quickly. In the Netherlands it might reach 25 to 30% of the population by 2040 (see Figure 1). We design best living concepts for the elderly, based on a research in their residential preferences. Our novel methodology combines insights from social sciences and architecture. A stated choice experiment retrieves the willingness-to-pay of the elderly for a set of relevant attributes of the dwelling, building and location. The attributes with the highest valuation are used as an input for a flexible architectural design.

@en

In this paper we combine the insights from social sciences and architecture to design best living concepts for a specific target group, elderly homeowners. We perform a stated choice experiment to study residential preferences of this group and translate the results into an architectural design of senior-friendly housing. This methodological approach is novel to the literature. We derive the willingness-to-pay for different residential attributes and show how these attributes can be traded off against each other to create best living concepts. We discuss how these living concepts can be translated into customized architectural design
while making use of standard architectural elements.@en