According to the National Statistical Office’s demographic data, the average life expectancy of Korea increased sharply to 81.3 years in 2013, and in 2015, the population aged 65 and over took up 13.1% of the whole population, which is 662,4000 people ...
According to the National Statistical Office’s demographic data, the average life expectancy of Korea increased sharply to 81.3 years in 2013, and in 2015, the population aged 65 and over took up 13.1% of the whole population, which is 662,4000 people. Accordingly, it applies to the transition from an aging society to an aged society and is expected to become a super aged society in 2026. Due to changes in social norms regarding the obligation of parental support and the emergence of various types of family, the increase in the elderly population has brought about a soaring number of single-member elderly households. Particularly, single-member elderly households are concentrated in rural area unlike single-youth households that are composed of young people in the metropolitan areas including Seoul. Aging brings decline of economic vitality and growth such as labour shortages by reduced workforce, reduced productivity, and intergenerational conflict for jobs and pension payment. It ultimately brings economic, social and cultural changes including hindrance to fiscal sustainability.
However, the current welfare policy is focused on providing cash transfers and establishment of welfare facilities for the elderly and far from the solution for the problems that the elders are facing. In fact, single-member elderly households are appealing for difficulties in daily life including poverty, worries over care in case of illness, social isolation, irregular meals, and solitary death. As a solution that recognizes aging as a universal social problem and reflects a variety of realistic demands from single-member elderly households, the realization of age-friendly city, which takes a comprehensive approach in urban dimension, is necessary.
Age-friendly city, which promotes active aging and aging in place, ultimately refers to a livable community for all ages as opposed to a city only for the elderly, and the creation of a community for lifetime. Age-friendly city can be achieved through hardware component such as improved physical space, software component which provides programmes, and humanware component which delivers care services.
If stage-specific strategy is explored on the premise of accurate diagnosis and understanding of the status of target area, it can be materialized in the following manner;
① Region-based care communities will be set based on traditional village unit for rural regions and on areas which can be accessed by walking for urban regions.
② The existing residential areas are to be improved based on the concept of universal design, and as a base space, community centres are created. At the same time, urban regeneration technique will be applied to existing facilities or unused spaces.
③ Care communities by which emotional care and life care are possible with the participation of the elderly and local residents will be established.
④ Essential programmes such as community kitchen and social dining will be operated and a social network will be built.
⑤ The variety of educational programmes will be provided, and furthermore, the concept of sustainable care community will be pursued.
⑥ Age-friendly city will be implemented by creating networks between communities in conjunction with welfare centres and health centres and the diffusion of care communities.
As such, spatial welfare can be realized with the creation of age-friendly city, which takes a convergent approach. First of all Civic, academic and professional groups, and central and local governments should have a joint interest in age-friendly city and spatial welfare, and then, they should build age-friendly cities through pilot programmes and evaluation stages.
Keywords_ Single-member Elderly Household, Age-friendly City, Active Aging, Aging in Place, Walkability, Community, Social Family, Social Dining, Community Kitchen, Sharing Economy, Spatial Welfare, Space Design Marketing