Abstract

The phenomenon of ageing is a growing concern over the entire world which calls for urgent study, analysis and developing means for mitigation of its ill effects in the future, especially in cities. Overcoming elderly population’s needs, problems and providing them acceptable living environment is a major challenge for the societies in the present and future centuries when the growth of the elderly population is predicted to be almost 25-30% by 2020. Although every country is facing the problems of ageing, most countries are far behind in providing adequate support facilities for elderly to achieve a good quality of life. The study critically examines the ‘inconvenience factors’ that are related to access and transport that are of prime concern for the age-friendly street design. The ‘inconvenience factors’ of travel faced by elderly in various case studies are critically evaluated and these are listed and categorized into three categories to facilitate analyzing and understanding the relation among these categories at various levels. Further, ‘inconvenience encountered’ in relation to ‘pedestrian infrastructure’, ‘public transport systems’ and those related to their ‘physical and psychological aspects’ are classified into subcategories. Through the study, it is found that streets pose serious challenges and obstacles and are problematic for the elderly. It is also found that there exists a relation between ‘physical and psychological factors’ and ‘design and maintenance’ of pedestrian infrastructure to facilitate convenience for their access and use which could be reflected in terms of a proposed ‘Convenience Index’.

Keywords: Age-friendly; Mobility; Inconvenience factors; Convenience index