Lin, Qian
(2022)
The Living Conditions of the Elderly in Suzhou: A Comparative Study of Suzhou Old City and Suzhou Industrial Park.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
A rapidly ageing population has become an immediate issue facing many countries. Ageing-related diseases and inaccessible health care services continue to trouble the elderly population. As the biggest developing country with the largest population in the world, China confronts the challenges of both an ageing population and urban development. The central and local governments have set up a comprehensive social security system that covers both urban and rural populations. They also promote the development of home- and community-based elderly care services and have formulated preferential policies for the elderly. However, measures against ageing should also be introduced at the grassroots level. This needs to do justice to the elderly's life in a period of high-speed urbanization and find improvements that best suit their demands. With this end in view, this research studied the effect of ageing on human bodies, the elderly's own initiative in facing ageing, and the role of the elderly's family in ageing. Useful strategies to combat ageing were derived from the study. The research also explored buildings specifically designed for the elderly and identified the way of designing high-quality living spaces for the elderly. For historical value, rapid urbanization, and a large elderly population, the city of Suzhou, China, is an ideal place for fieldwork. The fieldwork was conducted in four communities in both Suzhou old town and Suzhou Industrial Park. It unveils the elderly's daily life and living environment and casts light on problems for the elderly. On the basis of the above studies, the research concluded sets of design guidelines for improvement to the elderly's quality of life in Suzhou. The research adopted qualitative and quantitative methods, including a literature review, precedent studies, historical probes, semi-structured interviews, and neighbourhood surveys. These methods complement each other and comprehensively clarify the elderly's living conditions and problems. The research results, i.e. the design guidelines, based on these methods can inspire other studies on similar subjects or scenarios. Future work, such as pilot projects in the community, is needed to test and refine the design guidelines. It necessitates engaging both public and private parties in various forms with the aim of staging design interventions, showing design works to elderly residents, and receiving feedback.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ageing, the elderly, design guidelines, China, Suzhou |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Feb 2024 16:23 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Feb 2024 16:24 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03176738 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3176738 |
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