IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i11p4583-d1403984.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public Spaces for Older People: A Review of the Relationship between Public Space to Quality of Life

Author

Listed:
  • Sadiq R. Younes

    (Wellington School of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand)

  • Bruno Marques

    (Wellington School of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand)

  • Jacqueline McIntosh

    (Wellington School of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between public spaces and quality of life (QoL) for older adults, aiming to identify knowledge gaps within the context of population ageing and urbanisation. Recognising the growing importance of sustainable urban development, the research explores how cities can foster active ageing and improve QoL through accessible and inclusive public spaces. A scoping literature review identifies five key QoL domains for older adults: autonomy, meaningful activities, positive social relationships, leisure opportunities, and health. To identify knowledge gaps, a review of the literature was conducted for each of the highlighted themes. The review highlights areas requiring further investigation, including the interplay between environmental design and social connections, intergenerational perspectives on public space liveliness, the influence of context on QoL and the built environment, and the value of qualitative research in this field. By contributing to the understanding of QoL in relation to public spaces through the lens of person–environment fit theory, this study aims to inform urban design, landscape architecture, and policymaking in the creation of age-friendly communities with inclusive public spaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadiq R. Younes & Bruno Marques & Jacqueline McIntosh, 2024. "Public Spaces for Older People: A Review of the Relationship between Public Space to Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4583-:d:1403984
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4583/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4583/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chenchong Lu & Wenting Wu & Dan Han, 2023. "Understanding the Spatial Distribution and Behavior of Elderly Residents in Age-Friendly Communities: An Analysis of Outdoor Space Features in Hangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Astrid Kemperman & Pauline van den Berg & Minou Weijs-Perrée & Kevin Uijtdewillegen, 2019. "Loneliness of Older Adults: Social Network and the Living Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Verena H. Menec, 2003. "The Relation Between Everyday Activities and Successful Aging: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 58(2), pages 74-82.
    4. Milligan, Christine & Gatrell, Anthony & Bingley, Amanda, 2004. "'Cultivating health': therapeutic landscapes and older people in northern England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1781-1793, May.
    5. Yoshitaka Iwasaki, 2007. "Leisure and quality of life in an international and multicultural context: what are major pathways linking leisure to quality of life?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 82(2), pages 233-264, June.
    6. Katherine Brookfield & Catharine Ward Thompson & Iain Scott, 2017. "The Uncommon Impact of Common Environmental Details on Walking in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, February.
    7. Barbara Schehl & Joerg Leukel, 2020. "Associations between individual factors, environmental factors, and outdoor independence in older adults," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 291-298, September.
    8. Farquhar, Morag, 1995. "Elderly people's definitions of quality of life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 1439-1446, November.
    9. Henrike Galenkamp & Cristina Gagliardi & Andrea Principi & Stanislawa Golinowska & Amilcar Moreira & Andrea E. Schmidt & Juliane Winkelmann & Agnieszka Sowa & Suzan Pas & Dorly J. H. Deeg, 2016. "Predictors of social leisure activities in older Europeans with and without multimorbidity," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 129-143, June.
    10. Shiyu Lu & Yuqi Liu & Yingqi Guo & Hung Chak Ho & Yimeng Song & Wei Cheng & Cheryl Chui & On Fung Chan & Chris Webster & Rebecca L H Chiu & Terry Y Lum & Zhen Cong, 2021. "Neighborhood Built Environment and Late-Life Depression: A Multilevel Path Analysis in a Chinese Society [Association of urban green space with mental health and general health among adults in Aust," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(10), pages 2143-2154.
    11. Tianrong Xu & Nikmatul Adha Nordin & Ainoriza Mohd Aini, 2022. "Urban Green Space and Subjective Well-Being of Older People: A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-29, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhengzheng Luo & Lia Marchi & Jacopo Gaspari, 2025. "A Systematic Review of Factors Affecting User Behavior in Public Open Spaces Under a Changing Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-29, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elena Dragioti & Björn Gerdle & Lars-Åke Levin & Lars Bernfort & Huan-Ji Dong, 2021. "Association between Participation Activities, Pain Severity, and Psychological Distress in Old Age: A Population-Based Study of Swedish Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Henrike Galenkamp & Dorly J. H. Deeg, 2016. "Increasing social participation of older people: are there different barriers for those in poor health? Introduction to the special section," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 87-90, June.
    3. Linghan Zhang & Junyi Zhang, 2018. "Impacts of Leisure and Tourism on the Elderly’s Quality of Life in Intimacy: A Comparative Study in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Heather McMillen & Lindsay K. Campbell & Erika S. Svendsen & Renae Reynolds, 2016. "Recognizing Stewardship Practices as Indicators of Social Resilience: In Living Memorials and in a Community Garden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-26, August.
    5. Prinz, Aloys & Bünger, Björn, 2009. "From full life to balanced life: Extending Martin Seligman's route to happiness," CAWM Discussion Papers 17, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    6. Fatih Terzi & Handan Türkoğlu & Fulin Bölen & Perver Baran & Tayfun Salihoğlu, 2015. "Residents’ Perception of Cultural Activities as Quality of Life in Istanbul," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 211-234, May.
    7. Salvatore Bimonte & Antonella D’Agostino, 2021. "Tourism development and residents’ well-being: Comparing two seaside destinations in Italy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(7), pages 1508-1525, November.
    8. Trine Filges & Anu Siren & Torben Fridberg & Bjørn C. V. Nielsen, 2020. "Voluntary work for the physical and mental health of older volunteers: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), December.
    9. Shi Chen & Yi Sun & Bo Kyong Seo, 2022. "The Effects of Public Open Space on Older People’s Well-Being: From Neighborhood Social Cohesion to Place Dependence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Hu, Shu & Das, Dhiman, 2019. "Quality of life among older adults in China and India: Does productive engagement help?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 144-153.
    11. Melinda Heinz & Nicholas Cone & Grace Da Rosa & Alex J. Bishop & Tanya Finchum, 2017. "Examining Supportive Evidence for Psychosocial Theories of Aging within the Oral History Narratives of Centenarians," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-21, April.
    12. Felix N. Fernando & Dennis R. Cooley, 2016. "An Oil Boom’s Effect on Quality of Life (QoL): Lessons from Western North Dakota," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 1083-1115, December.
    13. Katherine Brookfield & Catharine Ward Thompson & Iain Scott, 2017. "The Uncommon Impact of Common Environmental Details on Walking in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, February.
    14. Cui, Dan & Wei, Xiang & Wu, Dianting & Cui, Nana & Nijkamp, Peter, 2019. "Leisure time and labor productivity: A new economic view rooted from sociological perspective," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-24.
    15. Völker, Sebastian & Kistemann, Thomas, 2013. "Reprint of: “I'm always entirely happy when I'm here!” Urban blue enhancing human health and well-being in Cologne and Düsseldorf, Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 141-152.
    16. Gassmann, Franziska & Siegel, Melissa & Vanore, Michaella & Waidler, Jennifer, 2012. "The impact of migration on elderly left behind in Moldova," MERIT Working Papers 2012-082, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    17. Marianne T Gonzalez & Marit Kirkevold, 2014. "Benefits of sensory garden and horticultural activities in dementia care: a modified scoping review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(19-20), pages 2698-2715, October.
    18. Wang, Ke & Cui, Qingming & Xu, Honggang, 2024. "Sensory therapeutic assemblages in tourism: Qi and the health of snowbirds in China," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    19. Tim Lomas & Kate Hefferon & Itai Ivtzan, 2015. "The LIFE Model: A Meta-Theoretical Conceptual Map for Applied Positive Psychology," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 1347-1364, October.
    20. Junta Takahashi & Hisashi Kawai & Hiroyuki Suzuki & Yoshinori Fujiwara & Yutaka Watanabe & Hirohiko Hirano & Hunkyung Kim & Kazushige Ihara & Kaori Ishii & Koichiro Oka & Shuichi Obuchi, 2020. "Reliability and Validity of the Activity Diversity Questionnaire for Older Adults in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-9, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4583-:d:1403984. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.