| With the globally continuous development of population ageing,the trend of feminisation of aged population is increasingly apparent.Gender has become a critical variation of ageing research.The gender difference of older people has attracted concerns and studies from a range of disciplines,which focus on the financial condition and social security,health condition and life care,behaviour and social engagement,etc.To a large extent,these differences will influence the formulation of pension policy,as well as the planning and design strategy of elderly-oriented environment in the future.However,little research has been done by scholars from architecture discipline through the lens of gender difference.China is facing with a huge demand for the construction of nursing facilities and elderly-oriented regeneration of communities.The one-side pursuit of the achievement of allocation rate,building scale and nursing bed number,along with the neglect of the research on older people’s diversity and differentiation demands,usually lead to a series of problems such as a mismatch between older people’s demand and facility design,low efficiency of facilities service and high vacancy rate.Taking gender difference as a perspective,this thesis analyses older people’s gender difference and related environmental problems through literature and empirical research,and puts forward related design strategies.As for literature research,it firstly focuses on older people’s gender difference and the research conclusion from a range of disciplines are summarised.Then the theoretical basis of gender-space research is traced.Finally,the background,mechanism and cases of two kinds of existing gender-specific living arrangement(facility and community)for older people are introduced.As for empirical research,the indoor environment of nursing facility and the outdoor environment of old urban community are selected as research objects.Questionnaires,behavioural mapping and group interview are employed to investigate male and female older people’s difference on environment perception,temporal-spatial behaviour and functioning demand.Based on the result,strategies are formulated covering the typology complement of nursing facility,the spatial design and spatial management of elderly-oriented environment.Through the research of older people’s gender and space issues,this thesis is expected to theoretically extend the traditional gender-space research in Architecture discipline and practically response to the challenge of population ageing and elderly-oriented environment design.It also contributes to the exploration of both the theoretical basis and research approach of the emerging area of older people’s gender-space research. |
