Planning for aging populations: inside or outside the walls

Over the past 15 years, OECD countries have come to recognise that their elderly populations are already, or will be, the fastest growing segments of their populations in the coming decades. In recognition of these demographic facts, public and private sectors planners with responsibility for housing, health and social services and transportation have divided into two camps. In one camp are those who believe that the full integration of the elderly population within their communities is the best way to insure the maximum life satisfaction of the elderly population over the longest period of time. This view manifests itself in proposals to allow ‘in-law suites’ to be built in areas zoned for single-family dwellings, deinstitutionalisaton and concomitant development of community-based care, and public transit systems made fully accessible to seniors regardless of their level of physical ability. In the other camp are those who believe that the elderly population wants and seeks a built environment which specifically caters for their particular needs. The most visible manifestations of this perspective are the ‘seniors only communities’ with their separate health and social services, and transportation systems. This paper focuses on integration versus segregation in planning housing, health and social services and transportation for seniors over the past 15 years (1986–2000). We emphasise that the planning outcomes of integrated-based and segregated-based solutions need to be understood within the broader socio-economic and legal contexts in which planning takes place. Underlying the integration-segregation dichotomy is the broader theoretical dichotomy of equity-efficiency. We have divided our paper into the main chapters. In the introductory chapter, the themes of integrated-based planning and segregated-based planning are explained. In addition, the current size and the future growth of elderly populations in OECD countries are reviewed. Chapter 2 focuses on housing. Chapter 3 examines the literature on health and social services and transportation. We conclude with an assessment of the implications of integrated-based and segregation-based planning for elderly populations in the next century.