A scholar Saturday highlighted the importance to pay special attention to the elderly living in poor neighborhoods in old urban areas, while pointing out that much could be done to improve the planning and design of their living environment.
"We can help in terms of their housing and neighborhood," said Anthony Yeh, chair professor of The Center of Urban Planning and
Environmental Management, University of Hong Kong, in a seminar organized by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service Saturday.
Yeh pointed out some of the planning implications, saying that the elderly need more health care and some are handicapped. Thus, they cannot move around very easily and there is a need for a good living environment with more tailor-made facilities.
For example, there is a demand for services such as a station reporting system on buses, just like those in the MTRs (Mass Transit Railway) amid the aging Hong Kong society, Yeh said.
The physical environment affects the quality of life while the living environment exerts impacts on elderly persons' attitudes and behavior, he said, adding that the physical living environment and the elderly persons' physical and psychological health are related.
Therefore, measures should be adopted to improve the physical and social environments of the elderly in the poor neighborhoods in old urban areas so as to improve their residential satisfaction, physical and psychological well-being, he said.
(People’s Daily January 19, 2002)
