Evaluating Age-Friendly City Indicators in Qazvin: Urban Open Spaces, Buildings and Public Places

Background :

As the population pyramid in Iran shifts to aging and the influence of environmental conditions on the elderly people, The need to pay attention to the foundations of well-being, security and comfort is felt more than ever. 

Objective:

 The present study aimed at evaluating the urban open spaces and public buildings/places of Qazvin city in Iran as indicators of an age-friendly city based on the perception of older people and managers.

Methods:

 This is a descriptive/analytical study conducted in 2017 on 200 older people and 40 urban managers. The older people were selected by a random cluster sampling technique, and managers by a convenience sampling method. Data collection tools were a demographic form and Ageing-Friendly City Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test.

Findings:

 The mean age of the elderly people was 68.32±6.48 years and for the managers, it was 40.28 ± 5.94 years. The mean score of  public buildings/places was 3.49±1.06 reported by the elderly group and 2.64±0.77 by the managers. For urban open spaces, it was 3.06 ± 0.89 and 2.60 ± 0.52, respectively. There was a significant difference between the opinions of two groups regarding the two surveyed indicators (P<0.001).

Conclusion :

The city of Qazvin is far from ideal in terms of buildings/public places and open spaces for the elderly. Therefore, urban managers should pay more attention to these indicators and take more effective steps to increase their quality.