Universal and Age-Friendly Design in Urban and Rural Built Environment Creation

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations have mentioned the challenges faced by different groups, especially the elderly, the youth, and individuals with disabilities. People’s life expectancy is increasing all over the world. A United Nations document mentions that the growth rate of the population aged 65 and above is outpacing that of those under 65. By 2050, the proportion of the global population aged 65 and over is expected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16%. This means that the number of people aged 65 and above will be twice that of children under 5, and nearly equal to the number of children under 12. At the same time, a UNICEF report says that children face numerous challenges in 2024, with millions of children being deprived of their rights and lacking essential resources needed to grow up healthy and strong. As mentioned by the WHO, it is estimated that 1.3 billion people (or one-sixth of the global population) live with severe disabilities. Health inequities stem from the unfair conditions faced them, including stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, and barriers within the healthcare system itself. The focus on special populations has become a core research topic in major journals, such as Nature and Science.

In the design field, the attention to special populations is closely linked to concepts such as universal design, inclusive design, and accessibility design. These concepts emphasize creating environments, products, and services that are usable by all individuals, regardless of their abilities, age, or background. Moreover, they aim to remove barriers that might exclude specific groups from fully participating in society. The attention to special populations is also connected to key spatial research topics, such as urban and rural health, urban regeneration, 15-minute neighborhoods, urban green spaces, sustainability, architectural heritage conservation, and community renewal. In landscape design, urban design, architecture design, and interior design, the activation of space (including that inside and outside of buildings) is very important for the organic development of cities, as well as the formation of age-friendly communities. Space availability influences the extent to which people can be active, as well as an individual's own physical and physiological health. The full use and design of these spaces and the attention to special groups cannot be separated from the support of new digital interactive technology, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and human–machine interactions. New qualitative or quantitative research methodologies on ethnography, psychology, and spatial studies have begun to explore the links between the usage of space and different groups of human beings.

Focusing on the above research trends, this Special Issue hopes to explore how the innovative usage and activation of spaces can link with the issues related to age-friendly, child-friendly, and disability-friendly design from landscape design, urban design, architecture design, and interior design, and how this contributes to a healthy society. This Special Issue especially welcomes the following topics: 

1. How to link the usage of spaces of different groups, such as the elderly, children, and individuals with disabilities and various issues, such as urban and rural health, urban regeneration, 15-minute neighborhoods, urban green spaces, sustainability, architectural heritage conservation, and community renewal?
2. How to observe, evaluate, and enhance the use of space by different groups, such as the elderly, children, and individuals with disabilities, and contribute to the aforementioned urban and rural issues? How to ensure all groups can thrive in shared spaces and create an inter-generational integration space?
3. How to link new quantitative methodologies (such as those that link big data and human factors’ science) with qualitative methodologies in studying the usage of spaces’ influences on the activities of different groups?
4. How can urban and rural management address these issues and benefit diverse populations?

Dr. Fei Chen
Dr. Masa Noguchi
Dr. Fangning Wu
Guest Editors

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• universal design
• age-friendly design
• urban and rural built environment
• urban, architectural, and interior renewal and design