Design-Led Innovation for Healthy Ageing

Dear Colleagues,

We have become increasingly successful at extending life, though the margin is widening between length of life and how long we live in good health; in other words, an increasing gap exists between lifespan and what has become known as ‘healthspan’. Moreover, the gap disproportionately affects women, and it is unequally represented across nations. Globally, the widening healthspan–lifespan gap underscores the urgent need to shift toward innovative, wellness-centred health-promoting care systems.

As global populations age, increasing attention has been directed toward understanding how housing, neighbourhoods, urban environments, and community infrastructure can support healthy ageing, ageing in place, and improved quality of life. In turn, this presents an important question for those who shape the built environment. If physical activity, psychological wellbeing, exposure to pollution, health equity and our capacity to age in place are influenced by where and how we live, then should the environments we design be considered more deliberately as part of the health-promoting ecosystem? The challenge may in fact be broader than designing for old age, and rather considers how the environments people inhabit throughout their lifespan might promote and preserve good health for longer. Housing, transport, neighbourhoods and public space are not simply the backdrop against which ageing occurs; they are part of the everyday conditions in which people live and age.

This Special Issue of the Architecture journal explores how architecture, urban design, planning, and related disciplines can contribute to extending healthspan through the creation of age-friendly, healthy, and inclusive built environments. We seek contributions providing evidence-based discussion that position design as a means to achieve quantifiable benefits to human health. Research and documentation of design approaches and solutions for housing and the built environment may include case studies, comparative analysis, post-occupancy evaluation, or other methods. While the focus is on the relationship between design, housing, the built environment and ageing, this does not preclude studies that consider the whole-of-life span that would underpin improved healthspan. The aim for this issue is to demonstrate that design-led innovations in built environment design can positively contribute to the health-promoting ecosystem prolonging healthy life.

Prof. Dr. Sarah McGann
Dr. Kate Hislop
Guest Editors

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