Abstract
Due to population ageing, today’s high-rise apartments in Indian cities, which are currently mainly owned by young professionals, will turn into naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) in near future. Though many urban housing complexes of 1970s and 1980s are already serving as NORCs, the term is comparatively new to Indian housing research. This huge existing housing stock is inadequate for special gerontological needs of the elderly, who are fragile and socially vulnerable. Informal opinion of common people revealed that holistic requirement for elderly in housing is still grossly confused with vertical transport, i.e., elevators, and little attention is paid to other architectural features. As part of an ongoing doctoral study, a detailed literature review was undertaken on the vulnerability profile of Indian urban elderly in the context of special requirements of barrier-free housing. This article aims to establish the urgent need to assess the adaptive potential of existing housing communities serving as NORCs in Indian cities, such that new housing in the future can be planned with flexible approach.
Highlights
The escalation in elderly population with age of 60 years or above has surpassed the population growth in general by 116% annually, combined with an expected hike in median age from 28 in 2010 to 38 in 2050 [57]
Due to population ageing, today’s high-rise apartments in Indian cities, which are currently mainly owned by young professionals, will turn into naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) in near future
Though many urban housing complexes of 1970s and 1980s are already serving as NORCs, the term is comparatively new to Indian housing research
Summary
The escalation in elderly population with age of 60 years or above has surpassed the population growth in general by 116% annually, combined with an expected hike in median age from 28 in 2010 to 38 in 2050 [57] Such a social transition, from high mortality-high fertility to low mortalitylow fertility, is termed as population ageing. In its Census of 2011 [29], for the first time since its independence in 1947, has recorded sharpest decline of 3.7% in population growth rate between 2001 and 2011 During this time-span, it has noted increase in (a) life expectancy from 65 years to 66.8 years and, (b) rise in the number of senior citizens from 7.5% to 8.0%. As an initial outcome of an ongoing Ph.D. research, this article aims to explore this issue with a focus on multi-storey apartment complexes of Indian megacities
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