Ricerc@Sapienza

Le metropoli odierne devono affrontare due fenomeni inevitabili: l'invecchiamento e la crescente urbanizzazione della popolazione. Se da un lato l'aumento della longevità rappresenta una conquista del mondo moderno, dall'altro tale tendenza richiede necessariamente un'adeguata capacità di rinnovamento interdisciplinare che coinvolga quindi non soltanto le politiche sanitarie e socio-assistenziali, ma anche e soprattutto quelle edilizie ed urbane, attraverso un'attenta azione pianificatoria in grado di trasformare spazi in luoghi accessibili ed inclusivi.

The research here presented originates from some of the ongoing challenges of our society: the demographic changes and the high share of population living in urban areas. The aim of the research is the definition of an index of sustainability and quality of life for elderly at suburban scale, not only able to outline aspects related to the local territorial context but also to represent the neighbourhood level. This would provide significant added value to existing indicators that represent the quality of life for much larger areas as cities, regions and nations.

The housing demand dictated by ageing population deals with the need to guarantee safe and inclusive living environments to older adults: on the one hand, the request is to up-grade home environments to future standards, providing them with ever changing innovative technologies; on the other hand, the strengthening of relationships between networks and urban services is able to guarantee the elderly all necessary supports for their social, psychic and health needs.

Analysis of demographic trend in Italy indicates that in the near future the elderly population will steadily increase. Since 2012, the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook focuses on the issue of Ageing Society, looking into the complexity of this demographic and societal challenge, mainly related to the increase in life expectancy in population of major economies in the world, resulting in the dramatic growth of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.