The Research On Residential Blocks Suitability For Elderly Based On Affordance Theory

With the rapid development of productivity and medical standards,the average human life has been extended,resulting in a growing elder population and severe aging situation.But it remains a backward pension system in our country with the traditional family pension model.The elders are a large number of social groups,and residential blocks play a significant role in their daily life.Residential blocks are the space not only for their behavioral activities,but also for their interpersonal communication.However,at present,there are currently problems with residential blocks in most cities,such as environmental obsolescence,imperfect infrastructure,lack of carrier-free design and poor management.Most residential blocks cannot meet the needs of the elders.Additionally,there is serious lack of public voice for the elders.It is necessary to balance the demand of the urban development and elders’ needs.Based on the above background,this paper supplements new perspective for space Suitability for Elderly,integrating affordance theory into the design of residential blocks.In view of human’s mental experience,space sensation and behavioral activities,the affordance theory manage to explore how the space elements could serve for elderly with different action ability,reveal their action patterns and the interaction mechanism of behavior occurrence,provide a proposal for old space constitution.The author thinks that this work could improve the environmental quality of old space and enhance the well-being of the elderly.The main contents of this research are as follows:（1）It introduces the background.Based on the reviews on affordance theory andold space,it demonstrates the possibility and the practical significance of thecombination of these two.（2）It constructs the conceptual framework for residential blocks suitability for elderly based on affordance theory.Since the multiple environment have an effect on elderly’s behavior,it considers the relationship between behavior and space from four aspects,functional affordance,emotional affordance, social affordance and cognitive affordance.The analysis methods are mainly interaction model analysis and demand evaluation analysis.For interaction model analysis,it finds how elderly act to the material environment based on the non-intrusive observation of the objective laws of their behavioral activities,then summarizes the behavior and environmental affordance.For demand evaluation analysis,it evaluates the elderly’s feelings,cognition and needs for old space subjectively,enriches the conceptual framework with emotional affordance,social affordance and cognitive affordance,which is resulting from the social environment,cultural environment and mental environment.（3）It verifies and applies the design strategy of residential blocks suitability for elderly based on the theory of affordance.Taking Shuita Street in Wuhan as an example,it draws the map of elderly’s daily travel activities through investigation and observation,to discuss spatiotemporal distribution of their daily activities,the types of behavior and the relationship between the behavior and the physical environment.In addition,it investigates and analyzes the evaluation of current space situation and the space needs of the elders through questionnaires.（4）It constructs old space in residential blocks based on the theory of affordance. It manages to carry out targeted reconstruction in residential blocks according to the positive,neutral and negative affordance.Also, summarizing optimized combination of material elements for elders,it transforms the design of typical old space,such as transitional spaces,linear spaces,semi-enclosed spaces and boundary spaces.The Affordance Structure Matrix is used to validation and optimize the strategy,hence it obtains the construction principles and strategies,and provides a guidance for the construction of old space in residential blocks.Facing the severe aging problem in China,the research on old space is of great significance.The affordance theory has certain advantages in exploring the interaction mechanism between the behavioral abilities of special groups and the space environment.This paper summarizes the objective laws of elders’ behavior through old space interaction model,and analyzes the subjective space evaluation and needs of the elders through the questionnaire.Combining multi-level analysis,it manages to improve the theory of suitable space for residential blocks,create a harmonious symbiotic relationship between the elders and residential blocks,and promote the sense of security,comfort and well-being of the elders.