Creating enabling environments for Indian elderly; Methodology for identification of environmental challenges
Authors
Sandeep Sankat, Rachna Khare and Devarshi ChaurasiaSession
F5. Designing for generationsDate and Time
2014-06-18, 12:50 - 13:10Room
MA 7Abstract
In India geriatrics is in its incipient stage, care, welfare and concerns by the state for elderly are almost nonexistent. Also the Persons with Disability Act-1995 lack a separate mention for elderly. The current study attempts to develop a set of architectural design guidelines to create inclusive enabling environments for Indian elderly. The overall aim of the present paper is to understand the situations of Indian elderly and to generate design parameters which when followed will create enabling environment for the Indian elderly.
To begin with an extensive literature review is done to understand aging, associated problems and the International concepts. Then a field survey is performed to identify the challenges elderly face in activities of daily living (ADLs) in Indian context. The survey is done for the upcoming urban housing typologies in India. These upcoming typologies are identified with market survey and scientific layering of the data. Then 27 elderly in the age group of 60 to 85 years representing independent elderly, frail elderly, and dependent elderly are studied using different environment-behaviour research tools, living in joint and nuclear families, in identified housing typologies. The collected data from interview questionnaires, audios, traces and photographs, is analyzed in layers to identify 26 environmental issues. Based on these identified issues, analysis and synthesis is done to identify the possibilities of interventions at architecture design level, to create Inclusive enabling environments for Indian elderly.