Challenges and Solutions for Ageing High-Rise Neighbourhoods in Japan and the UK

According to the United Nations, population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of the 21st century, with implications for nearly every sector of society. This demographic shift will challenge national economic, health and support systems. The built form of cities poses a particularly onerous challenge as, unlike policy, it is physically difficult to change. As people age their life spaces shrink, thereby increasing the importance of the immediate built environment. Without reliable transit, easy access to services, family and friends, older adults may face loneliness, depression and other health risks as their physical and cognitive world shrinks. Dense residential developments, such as high-rise neighbourhoods, offer an environment amenable to high quality late life independent living. However, not all high-rise developments may be suited for the needs of an older population. In Japan, the world's oldest nation with 27% of the population 65 years of age or older, the housing stock is constantly renewed. Due to the low quality of construction to meet demand of the booming population after the Second World War, and more recently, recurring code modifications to improve earthquake resilience, the average lifespan of a reinforced-concrete apartment building is only approximately 35 years. The constant renewal of the housing stock provides the opportunity to adapt for an ageing population. The UK, in contrast, has a younger population (18% of population is 65 years of age or older) and older, mostly low-rise housing mixed with newer high-rise apartments being built in urban centres. However, like many countries around the world, the UK is ageing rapidly. By 2050, older adults in the UK are expected to make up one quarter of the population. This begs the question of whether the UK built environment is adequately prepared for an ageing population.

While still emerging in the UK, ageing is an established element of Japanese society. This presents a unique and timely opportunity to learn from the challenges and successes in Japan, in order plan for a supportive built environment that minimizes the double risk of getting old in an ageing built environment. This collaboration aims to share knowledge and experience of historic and current practice and research on ageing high-rise neighbourhoods in the UK and Japan to identify future challenges and develop solutions. Through a series of workshops, site visits, and collaborations, we will integrate and advance our understanding of how to manage the linked concerns of demographic and physical ageing, referred to here as double-ageing, of high-rise neighbourhoods.

Specifically, the goal of the proposed activities will be to: (1) share UK and Japanese inter-disciplinary expertise on double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods, (2) evaluate current efforts to identify, adapt, and manage double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods in Japan, explore similar future challenges in the UK, and consider the applicability of policy, design, and cultural transfer between contexts, (3) define the future challenges, opportunities, and gaps in knowledge related to double-ageing high-rise development in Japan and the UK, and (4) jointly develop a new multidisciplinary network of researchers in collaboration with practitioners and establish a future research agenda on double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods.

Drawing on a range of disciplinary and contextual knowledge we will seek to identify issues to these present day built environment challenges as well as future solutions. To achieve this the project brings together expertise on the study of the built environment from a range of disciplines, including, geography, urban planning, sociology, and urban design. In doing so we will contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of path dependency, demographic change, the lived experience, and design in double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods.

The research aim and objectives draw on a need for further understanding of the complex interconnection between societal ageing, the design, construction, and maintenance of the built environment, and public policy intervention. Our approach involves the participation of practitioners in debating and defining the problems and opportunities of double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods through their leadership of the site visits and engagement with a range of academics during workshops. In this way they become integral to helping to set the future research agenda that this project seeks to develop.

The workshops and symposium (and associated presentations and recordings) proposed in this project will be of particular interest to professionals in the private sector associated with the development industry, urban planning and design, and architecture due to the focus on building adaptability, maintenance, and changing demographic markets. The private sector can draw on the research presented at the workshops to develop a better understanding of the needs of older residents and what products or solutions they might need to improve their lives in these communities, as well as identify potential commercial opportunities for the rehabilitation and adaption of ageing high-rise buildings.

Public sector professionals in the fields of public health, public policy, and local government planning will also benefit from the dissemination of academic case studies, research, and comparative explorations of different cross-national approaches to addressing double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods. This can help them to introduce improved client-care services for the elderly and develop preventative measures for emerging double-ageing neighbourhoods before they become serious. In the long-term the residents of double-ageing high-rise neighbourhoods stand to benefit from the solutions developed as a result of the collaboration between UK and Japanese researchers and practitioners through the identification and dissemination of best practice that can allow them to stay in their homes longer, in greater safety, and financial security. As a result local and national governments will potentially see benefits of reduced health care and public housing costs.

Throughout the course of the project these groups will be kept informed of workshops and materials via social media and a website. The symposium and the workshops will include invitations to targeted practitioners and policymakers in the private and public sector. A series of blog posts will be written on identified case studies and the outcomes of the symposium will recorded and posted online. Presentations will also take place at learned society conferences open to non-academics, including the Regional Studies Association and Urban Affairs Association.