Research on the elderly housing in China : a case study on "Beijing Sun City Living Community"

Abstract

Population aging becomes a serious social problem when the society develops into a certain stage, and it has a close relationship with the national economy and people’s livelihood, as well as the future of a country. Also, the improvement of medical level and social welfare help people prolong their life expectancy.

As a developing country, which includes nearly 1/4 population of the world, China also faces the severe aging problem. After the establishment of People’s Republic of China, the population grows with a very high rapid. Later, the Chinese government implemented the One Child Policy at the beginning of 1980, this policy gradually modified the family structure in the micro dimension and the population structure in the macro dimension. There are more and more 4-2-1 families, which means there are 4 grandparents, 2 parents and only one child in one family, and this family structure causes some troubles and challenges to the traditional model, which is taking care of the old at home. The government and families all have difficulties to take care of the elderly people. As a result, the elderly housing emerges at the right moment.

The world pays more attention to taking care of the elderly people, and many relative concepts have been introduced around the world. Such as the healthy ageing and active ageing pronounced by the WHO, and some other concepts like the ageing-in-place and community care, etc. All of these concepts give us a theoretical foundation when research on the development of elderly housing in China.

Beijing Suncity Living Community is one of the best elderly communities in China, this dissertation tries to do a case study about the elderly housing in Suncity. After the data analysis, the author found that the Suncity does well in the design of the community, which suits the physical characteristics of the elderly people. Also, the services and facilities for the elderly people are relative complete, which can help the elderly people to spend their spare time in a more interesting way. However, the management in the Suncity is not good, and this may give the elderly people a sense of unsafety. Also, it may bring bad impact to their psychological health.

Then, the recommendation about both the Suncity and the development of elderly housing in China will also be given. For the Suncity, it must change the poor management, and one method is to employ some professional people to enhance the management level. For the later development of elderly housing in China, recommendations are given from design of the elderly community and management of the elderly community.