The Framework for Research of Smart Silver Villages

Abstract

Smart villages are feasible solutions to develop European rural areas and reverse depopulation processes. As rural areas face migration of younger people towards urban areas, the ageing of population is there even faster and presents more challenges. Older adults would prefer to stay in their home and social environment as long as possible, which also goes for older adults in rural areas. The European office of the World Health Organization (later on WHO) prepared the handbook with eight domains supporting the development of an age-friendly environment. This article reviewed how much literature covers smart villages and age-friendly environments in rural areas. We used the Web of Science search tool and several search strings to consider if there is sufficient research covering this topic. While there is much research covering the age-friendly environment in cities, few only are dedicated to rural areas. We concluded that there is a need for further research to support the development of smart silver villages as rural age-friendly environments and that eight WHO domains give us a suitable frame for community development in this direction. The literature review was performed to determine the conditions for the research framework on smart silver village. Subsequent research should focus on the smart village field, including care for older adults and developing social infrastructure for older adults in rural areas. Besides that, the literature review for age-friendly environment research considers the applicability of their results in rural areas and smart villages.