Quality of Life and Healthy Aging in Urban Renewal

Population aging has become a global trend and there will be a paradigm shift among the living style of the older people by the year of 2030. As they would have obtained more education, better health and income, they may have changed needs in the urban environment. In particular, while urban renewal becomes an emergent trend, the characteristics of urban environment in the older districts in cities play an important role in influencing elderly people's physical and psychological well-being. This paper highlights the need to address the critical factors for enhancing healthy aging and quality of life in urban planning. Through literature review, key concepts for healthy aging are presented and they are incorporated into the context of sustainable urban renewal. Based on that, a preliminary theoretical framework is developed for further in-depth study on quality of life for healthy aging in urban renewal projects.