There are various problems in the living environment of the elderly in suburban area, which are losing farmland due to urban development. It is expected that there will be differences between regions (differences of housing and life for the elderly). The objective of this paper is to clarify and evaluate living environment, especially space formation of dwelling for elderly people in Yan Ta District of Xi’an(6 community/ village). This article focusing on the suburban area in Xi’an aims to compare with the urban center and rural areas discussed through the previous papers, based on field studies.
The major points this paper clarifies are as follows.
1. In Yan Ta District, the structure of the shequ (community) are very different. They are combined with: community where most state-owned enterprise residential areas are concentrated, community where is a high-rise residential area which redeveloped from "village in city", community where apartment residential areas and undeveloped old residential area are coexist in half, community where is undeveloped villages that lost farmland. It was found that the disparities about area scale, the number of people, and the aging rate existed among communities.
2. There is an advanced shequ establishing the regional neighborhood facilities, where the welfare facilities, the home care center and home life service are well managed by private sector pater with community, although it is costly to use them. As a whole, welfare facilities are almost underdeveloped, and especially care facilities for the elderly in communities are not enough. Also, the location of the residents' committee in the area is biased.
3. With regard to daily life problems, the first problem that is health and medical treatment. And it can be seen that there is disparity among districts. The third residential environment problems, such as no elevators, facilities are inadequate, inconvenience of toilets, presence of steps etc. Although it is not seen in central area of the city and rural area, it was found that the relationship with the children was not well and the dependent contradiction increased in village of suburb area.
4. Housing issues vary by company district. Although the area is small, steps in the toilet, undeveloped showers and bathrooms, and aging facilities are common to the shequ ward, the housing properties of the newly redeveloped shequ ward are improving. In a corporate district where state-owned enterprises and public works complex are concentrated, there is a problem that there is no elevator in middle-rise apartments. There are small-scale single- story houses in company districts where state-owned enterprises, public works estates and old residential areas (built-up areas) coexist, and there is a problem of aging equipment. Villages where land is planned to be converted from farmland have many problems with bathing and toilets. The problem of housing naturally causes great inconvenience and hindrance to the lives of elderly people and caregivers with independence levels II and III.
As mentioned above, it was clarified that there are different problems in the living environment and dwelling of elderly people in the suburban area (Yan Ta Ward), following the urban area and rural status of the historical city Xi'an, depending on the composition of the company ward. I would like to write a separate paper on the problems of the elderly facilities and institutionalized elderly in each area we surveyed.
