Belinda Yuen Editor Ageing and the Built Environment in Singapore Ageing and the Built Environment in Singapore Belinda Yuen Editor Ageing and the Built Environment in Singapore 123 Editor BelindaYuen Lee KuanYewCentre for Innovative Cities Singapore University of Technology andDesign Singapore Singapore ISBN978-3-319-92443-4 ISBN978-3-319-92444-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92444-1 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018942166 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG,partofSpringerNature2019 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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Coverillustration:ApublichousingneighbourhoodinSingapore Photocredit:BelindaYuen Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerInternationalPublishingAG partofSpringerNature Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Foreword The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) in the Singapore University of Technology and Design was established in September 2012. Shortly after,Mrs.LeeLiming,aSingaporephilanthropist,agreedtogiftaresearchgrantto the Centre on the condition we work on ageing as a topic. Thus, the Lee Liming Programme on Ageing Urbanism became the first research programme set up in LKYCIC. The second research flagship programme, the Future of Cities was launched in 2014, followed by the Chen Tianqiao Programme on Cities and Innovation. Takingupthetopicofageingwastimelyandtherightthingtodo.In1997,then Prime MinisterGoh ChokTong,speakingat aTriennialConference for grassroots leaders, raised the issue of the rapid ageing of the population. In 1998, the Inter-MinisterialCommitteeontheAgeingPopulationwasformedtolook intothe needs and consequences of the ageing demographics. Academic interest followed. But,ageingasaresearchtopichasgainedwiderattentionmorerecently,prompted by the fact that 2030, the year when Singapore’s population of those aged 65 and older would reach the projected figure of 900,000, is not far away. Dr.BelindaYuenworkingwithherteamcompletedamajorsurveyoftheageing population to understand their needs. They verify and enrich their findings with other methodologies to get a full and rounded understanding of the requirements andaspirationsoftheseniorpopulation.Wehopethistreasuretroveofdatawillbe usefultothosewhohavetomakedecisionsaffectingtheageingpopulation,andfor other researchers who are interested in working in the same area. Singapore Prof. Chan Heng Chee Ambassador-at-large and Chairman Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities Singapore University of Technology and Design v Preface In2013,when I joined theLee Kuan Yew Centre for InnovativeCities,Singapore University of Technology and Design, I was asked to develop a research pro- gramme on population ageing. Thus was born the Lee Li Ming Programme in Ageing Urbanism and the project: Understanding the Changing Needs of Singapore’s Older Population. Being the first project under the programme, it reflectedmycontinuinginterestandresearchonhousingandpublicspaceswithan analyticallensfocusedonapopulationthatIhavenotcloselystudiedbefore:older people, their lived experiences and perceptions of growing older in these spaces. The World Health Organization has highlighted the rapid growth of older population worldwide and the importance of the built environment including housing and outdoor spaces in the older person’s health, well-being and quality of life. Yet, relatively little research has addressed the older person’s experiences of these spaces. We are inspired to share our research, the methods we have used and some of the findings. IwouldberemissifIdidnotmentionthatmanypeople(listedintheindividual chapters) have contributed to the completion of the research project and this book. I duly acknowledge their contributions. In addition, I thank Mrs. Lee Li Ming for supporting our research through her generous gift. I hope the chapter contributions in this Volume, whether you read one or all of them, will go some way towards promoting better understanding of the older person’s relationship with the built environment, and will further research and con- sideration while planning housing and outdoor environments for an ageing society. Singapore Belinda Yuen vii Contents 1 Surveying Older Adults’ Perceptions and Aspirations . . . . . . . . . . 1 Belinda Yuen, Chathura Withanage and Parvathi Nair 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.3.1 Economic and Living Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.3.2 Perceptions of Old Age and Growing Older . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.3.3 Housing Satisfaction and Aspirations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.3.4 Public Spaces and Outdoor Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 1.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2 Focusing on Older Residents Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Belinda Yuen and Sue Wei Cheong 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.3.1 Housing and Neighbourhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 2.3.2 Amenities and Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 2.3.3 Recreational and Social Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 2.3.4 The Individual and Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2.3.5 Possible Differentiation Between Focus Groups. . . . . . . . 63 2.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 3 Sharing Key Informant Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Belinda Yuen and Sue Wei Cheong 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 ix x Contents 3.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 3.3.1 Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 3.3.2 Neighbourhood and City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 3.3.3 Society and Individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 3.3.4 Different Groups, Similar Concerns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 3.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4 Housing Audit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Belinda Yuen and Parvathi Nair 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 4.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 4.3.1 HAC Age-Friendliness Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 4.3.2 Component-Wise Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 4.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 5 Walking with Older Adults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Belinda Yuen and Penny Kong 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 5.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 5.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 5.3.1 Respondent Usage of Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 5.3.2 Site A: 256 Bangkit Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 5.3.3 Site B: 434 Fajar Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 5.3.4 Site C: 415 Fajar Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 5.3.5 Site D: 201 Petir Road, Bukit Panjang N2 Park. . . . . . . . 143 5.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 6 Seeing Through the Eyes of Older Adults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Belinda Yuen and Emily Soh 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 6.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 6.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 6.3.1 Amenities and Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 6.3.2 Structured Social Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 6.3.3 Incidental Social Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 6.3.4 Outdoor Green Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 6.3.5 Quality of Neighbourhood Infrastructure and Outdoor Street Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Contents xi 6.3.6 Favourite or Frequented Activity Nodes Outside of One’s Neighbourhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 6.3.7 Transportation and Travel Journeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 6.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 7 Investigating Space, Activities and Social Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Belinda Yuen and Parvathi Nair 7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 7.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 7.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 7.3.1 Site A—256 Bangkit Road. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 7.3.2 Site B—434 Fajar Road, Void Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 7.3.3 Site B—Fajar Road, Hard Court. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 7.3.4 Site C—415 Fajar Road, Void Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 7.3.5 Site D—201 Petir Road, Bukit Panjang N2 Park . . . . . . . 203 7.3.6 Site Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 7.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 8 Real-Time Data Analysis Using a Smartphone Mobile Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Sumudu Hasala Marakkalage, Billy Pik Lik Lau, Sanjana Kadaba Viswanath, Chau Yuen and Belinda Yuen 8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 8.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 8.2.1 Mobile App Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 8.2.2 Older User Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 8.2.3 Big Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 8.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 8.3.1 Home Stay Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 8.3.2 Across Neighbourhoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 8.3.3 Across Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 8.3.4 Points of Interest (POI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 8.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 9 Exploring Perceived Neighbourhood Social Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Anna Lane 9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 9.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 9.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 9.3.1 Socio-demographics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 9.3.2 Social Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 xii Contents 9.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 10 Designing with Older Residents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Belinda Yuen and Sue Wei Cheong 10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 10.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 10.3 Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 10.3.1 Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 10.3.2 Favourite Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 10.3.3 Accessibility and Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 10.3.4 Maintenance and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 10.3.5 Safety and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 10.3.6 Activities and Amenities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 10.3.7 Community Spirit and Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 10.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Index .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 283