While the city has done well in terms of preparing its physical infrastructure for this transition, we need to ensure that adaptation of the urban and social infrastructure is approached in an inclusive and equitable manner, according to Tan Shin Bin, Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS).
Professor Tan’s research lies at the intersection between health and urban planning, with a particular focus on how built environment interventions and public policy can improve social equity, reduce health disparities and strengthen community health.
The Singapore Government estimates that by 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be over 65. Further, the country will in 2026 pass the 21% over-65 level for being labelled a “super-aged” society. This rapid ageing will pose challenges not only because of a shrinking workforce — with just 2.7 people in work for every person over 65 — and higher healthcare costs, but also in maintaining a high standard of living for the nation’s elderly.
Upgrading physical infrastructure
The government has been preparing for this for some time and there has been good progress in terms of retrofitting Singapore’s physical environment to accommodate an ageing population, said Professor Tan, who formerly worked as a planner at the Urban Redevelopment Authority and received her PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But attention also must be paid to adapting the other aspects of the urban landscape to suit a more elderly population.
“While Singapore boasts commendable physical infrastructure (transportation, housing retrofitting, pedestrian safety, etc.), gaps remain in addressing the social aspects of eldercare,” she said. “A proactive approach is necessary to understand and meet the diverse needs of its ageing population.”
Evolving urban and community infrastructure
Urban social infrastructure, which can be understood in terms of the types of spaces that foster social connections and enable social support, is also an important aspect of the built environment that needs to evolve. Professor Tan says the question we need to be addressing in this area is: “How might our city be more ‘elder-friendly’ in terms of keeping older folk socially involved, connected, engaged?”
“Older adults are at greater risk of social isolation compared to their younger counterparts, and the negative effects of social isolation are well-established,” Professor Tan said. “I see efforts to try to reduce these risks of social isolation, such as HDB's recently announced ’Silver Upgrading Programme’ that seeks to provide older precincts with facilities like therapeutic gardens and intergenerational playgrounds, which are social spaces that can hopefully support the building of new friendships and maintenance of old ties.”
Consult, consult, consult
Professor Tan warns that those involved in renovating public spaces for an older population must be cautious that they don’t fall into the mental traps of “If I build it, they will come” or “We know best what, where, and how to build.”
“Simply setting aside an aesthetically designed public space might not be sufficient to draw people out of their homes, nor will it ensure that meaningful interactions will occur within those spaces,” said Professor Tan.
“To build spaces that can perform their role as social infrastructure for an ageing population requires a clear understanding of the social needs and patterns of older folks, as well as the barriers they face in creating or maintaining relationships, particularly for the more vulnerable subpopulations.”
The 2023 Action Plan for Successful Ageing notes that in 2030, some 83,000 seniors will live on their own, and 100,000 will suffer at least some form of mild disability (meaning they need assistance with at least one activity of daily living). Future neighbourhoods will need to cater for the varying needs of these more vulnerable seniors, to ensure they have sufficient support to live well.
Singapore has taken lessons learned from other societies, such as Japan and Denmark, and put them into action. According to the 2023 Action Plan for Successful Ageing, the city has already established 15 dementia-friendly neighbourhoods, and at least 13 senior-care centres have been co-located with childcare facilities to enable interactions between seniors and children, something that has been shown to have positive effects in terms of health and lowering feelings of social isolation.
Not only are there health benefits to promoting interactions between generations, but there are also clear ethical implications at stake.
“It is absolutely critical to provide opportunities and support for intergenerational bonding, because the alternative is generational segregation; where older people occupy completely separate spheres from the rest of the population. Why is this problematic? For one, this scenario would likely create an ‘underclass’ of seniors hidden from view; easy to forget, easy to dismiss, easy to marginalise when it comes to distribution of resources.”
But it’s not just sitting-out spaces or childcare centres where intergenerational interactions need to be encouraged. The approach needs to traverse all domains, and the elderly need to be empowered to meet on equal terms with their fellow citizens wherever they may be, not just in the physical but increasingly in the digital realm.
“Facilitating intergenerational connections would require interventions across different scales, starting from a broader societal appreciation of older adults as assets rather than as liabilities; a willingness to experiment with co-housing models that bring communities of different ages under one roof; all the way down to technological interventions to foster better integration of older adults into digital social realms that the younger generations so deftly occupy today,” said Professor Tan.
Planning as an inclusive process
She has advocated through numerous publications for urban planning to be an inclusive process, one that pays more attention to the needs of the vulnerable and aged, who often have deep connections to place and are, in many cases, less well-equipped to deal with the dislocation that changes to the urban environment can entail.
“There is a need for more proactive outreach, engagement, and consultation of older adults in the planning and programming of their living environments,” she said. “Giving people a tangible stake in decision-making not only ensures that decisions are made with a deeper understanding of what older folks may need, but can also foster stronger social ties amongst the community, forged in the process of working towards a common goal of shaping one’s built environments.”