This document summarizes a research project that aims to create age-friendly housing and neighborhood designs through a participatory design process with older adults. The research was prompted by an aging population that is living longer at home and facing mobility issues. The project will develop prototype designs in three Sheffield neighborhoods with input from older adults, stakeholders, and the local council. It will evaluate how design can facilitate independence, activity, and social interaction for older residents. The designs will consider connections between indoor and outdoor spaces. The research team is cross-disciplinary and the project runs from 2013-2016, with outputs including revised design briefs, detailed plans, and dissemination of findings.

1. How better design can facilitate mobility,
connectivity & wellbeing for older people: a
participatory approach to design research
(Design for wellbeing or ‘D4W’)
Lee Crookes,
University of Sheffield

2. Background to the research
● An ageing population –
● No. of people 65 or over in Britain will rise from 10.5 million to 16
million in the next 25 years.
● “To 2029, the population aged 75+ is projected to rise by 47% in
urban areas, and by 90% in rural areas” (Lifetime Homes, Lifetime
Neighbourhoods)
● Compared to other age-groups, older people tend to spend
more time at home and are more reliant on local services
and facilities
● Policy priorities around supporting older people to continue
living at home
● But design and management of housing and the wider
neighbourhood sometimes creates barriers to older people’s
capacity to live independently and enjoy a good quality of
life.

3. Study shows 600,000 pensioners are prisoners
in own homes (Daily Telegraph, 8 March 2012)
● Research suggest growing isolation of many elderly
people at a time when services seen as a lifeline by
many, such as local bus routes or Post Offices, are
being cut.
● Up to two million retired people struggle even to get
to the local corner shop, supermarket or Post Office
● Six per cent of older people – the equivalent to
630,000 people – leave their homes once a week at
the most.
● While many receive daily visits from carers, seven per
cent described themselves as “often” or “always”
lonely, or 735,000 people.

4. Elderly people who are socially isolated and
lonely may be at greater risk of early death
(Steptoe et al, 2013)
…Need for research on homes and
environments that encourage activity, social
interaction, independence and mobility that is
informed by the views and daily experiences of
older people.

5. Summary of the research
● Creating age-friendly places through the development of
prototype housing and neighbourhood designs that serve
the needs of older people and help to empower them
● Innovative, looking across scales and systems
● Collaborative and cross-cutting
● Strong emphasis on involvement of older people throughout in a
cycle of consultation, design, testing and further consultation
● Professional stakeholders involved in design and service delivery
● Involvement of UK Online Centres and Sheffield City Council
● Focus on longer-term issues too, particularly in a context of
fiscal constraint
● Longer-term management and maintenance issues and
integration with service delivery and place management

6. ● Views built environment as a seamless whole,
looking at integration of design across different
scales and transitions from interior to exterior
spaces
● Case-studies in three Sheffield neighbourhoods
which will vary in terms of their income levels,
tenure mix and the opportunities and challenges
presented by the physical and built environment
● Detailed work programme is still under discussion

7. The research team
● Cross-disciplinary team
● Sarah Wigglesworth, Professor of Architecture
● Sarah Barnes, Lecturer in the School of Health and
Related Research
● Malcolm Tait, Senior Lecturer in Town and Regional
Planning
● Lee Crookes, University Teacher, Town and Regional
Planning
● Two post-doctoral Research Assistants and
Research Administrator
● £642k project, running from Oct 2013-Sept 2016

8. Project outputs
● WP1: Brief Development A Project Brief, containing design
considerations and parameters, and a policy and funding
framework that will form the context for the designs.
● WP2: Testing the Brief A revised project brief, that takes into
account detailed design and delivery considerations.
● WP3: Detailed Design Development and stakeholder testing
Detailed designs for a residential development and its immediate
neighbourhood, including specifications and schedules.
● WP4: Design Review Finalised prototype designs, design codes,
and policy and programme recommendations
● WP5: Dissemination A Design Guide (entitled: 'Holistic Designs for
Ageing Well'), academic publications, Policy Briefing Papers
drawing lessons for better inter-professional working and
policy/programme development, final conference, website.

9. UK Online Centres involvement
(from early 2014)
1. A national on-line survey involving the
identification and recruitment of approximately
300 older people, experiencing varying levels of
mobility, through the specialised Older Peoples’
Network and Wider Unfunded Centre Network
to take part in an on-line survey to identify
barriers to, and opportunities for, mobility
within the built environment.

10. 2. Identification and assistance with recruitment
within the larger sample group of up to 50 older
people (and their informal carers) based in
Sheffield to take part in in-depth interviews
and/or focus groups to explore their interaction
with their environment according to levels of
mobility and limiting illness (i.e. dementia).

11. Contact details for the research team
s.wigglesworth@sheffield.ac.uk
l.crookes@sheffield.ac.uk
Questions?