Research On Housing The Aged In The Chinese Aging Metropolises

China has become an aging society since2002. Accompanied with the socio-economic development, the promotion of housing condition, and the changing offamily value, housing the aged as a social problem has drawn more and moreattention in China, especially in metropolitan areas. The dissertation is thustrying to study the senior housing problem from the viewpoint of architecture andpublic policy. The aged housing problem could only be solved with the help ofbetter design of aged housing, a developed social security system and socialcaring service industry. This dissertation emphasizes on the definition of agedhousing and its development in developed countries and regions. The creation ofaged housing typology will help to understand current aged housing frame in theworld and make strategic planning in the municipal level in an aged society.Firstly, the author tried to define the senior housing in three levels, broadly,basically and narrowly. Then the author reviewed the development of seniorhousing and its theory in the developed world. The social security and housingpolicies in those countries are also introduced as the necessary background.Upon its definition and history, this paper argued the typology of senior housing,which is the most important part in this research. The four words-“aged”,“housing”,“service” and “scale”-are served as the basic elements for theconstructing this framework. The fourth part is the research on the strategicplanning and design of senior housing in a certain city or region regime. Theoutcome of questionnaire and interviews made in2004in several metropolises isattached in the fifth part. The sixth part is the evaluation of nine Chinese seniorhousing projects which could be classified as seven kinds of senior housingtypes upon author’s definition. Finally is the conclusion of the dissertation andthe forecast of future.