September 1, 2016
The average person over 65 manages a walking speed of 3km/hour. At 80 that goes down to 2km/hour, compared with the average for a working age person of 4.8km/hour. (35 years in the US and I still can’t compute miles….) Crossing the street at a signal with the time allotted for younger persons might be quite difficult for us baby boomers in 10 years or so.
This is one of the many, many urban design features that need to be thought through to adjust our cities (or in building new ones) for an aging baby boomer generation. Safety issues are a concern, but even more so is the need to combat the tendency towards isolation when moving around becomes hard. Architects and city planners increasingly take into account transportation issues, both in terms of green links devoid of traffic, and bus or other transportation modes routed to connect the elderly to places where they can gather.
In terms of housing there are now entire courses offered in architecture programs that deal with the needs of the elderly – in particular creating buildings that are flexible in design, so they can be adjusted easily to life stage changes and that contain more age friendly features than you would see in designs aimed at first time users only.
The three links below all tackle some aspects of these issues, seen and described from different perspectives.
http://www.archdaily.com/604158/how-should-cities-prepare-for-an-aging-boomer-population
Portland is mentioned favorably!
http://www.citylab.com/design/2013/01/how-build-eldertopia/4514/
Martha Ullman West
Well, now, so far, at closer to 80 than 75 I can cross Portland’s streets in the time allotted where there are lights. Since drivers and bicyclists are less patient than traffic lights, crosswalks are another matter. Eldertopias? I implore the city planners and architects to keep us out of ghettos, even self-imposed ones. I like, however, the concept of senior housing combined with pre-schools and day care centers; it’s the young who keep us young, except of course when they don’t.