Spatial justice in the age-friendly city index of Tehran

World Health Organization has proposed age-friendly cities as an urban development approach. Likewise, the spatial distribution of urban facilities can be considered an important issue among urban planners.

In 2019, a sample of 770 elderly people was selected by the multi-stage sampling method. Data collection was accomplished using a standard questionnaire of the World Health Organization. Spatial inequalities of age-friendly indicators were calculated according to the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) using version 22 of SPSS software.

The results showed that the city of Tehran has an average score of 2.07 out of a maximum score of 4 in the index of the age-friendly city. The “outdoor spaces and buildings” (2.33) and the “housing” (1.31) sub-indexes had the highest and lowest average among the components of an elderly-friendly city, respectively. According to the TOPSIS, Lavizan district (score 2.13) and Mehrabad district (score 1.90) was ranked as the best and worst elderly-friendly district from the elderly point of view, respectively.

Spatial inequality in the indicators of age-friendly is evidently intimidating the quality of older adults’ life. Therefore, it is necessary to pay close attention to the spatial distribution of urban features compatible with later life, especially in the southern areas of Tehran.