Abstract
As the aging society is globally increasing, the guide for the aged-friendly city is suggested by WHO and many cities are preparing to meet with it. The base of this guide for an age-friendly city is an active aging. This study examined how degree the neighborhood environment is age-friendly from older persons' standpoints. The data were collected through the interview with old persons who aged more than 65 years, 117 persons in an urban area and 110 ones in a rural area. The age-friendly degree of neighborhood environment was examined from two aspects. One is how close 12 neighborhood facilities were from the elderly's houses. Another one is how degree the elderly were considered in 4 areas: pedestrian road, traffic, the amount of housing for the elderly, and space layouts of their houses. Findings were as follows. First, the elderly related neighborhood facilities in urban area were closer located to old persons' houses than in rural area, except the senior center. Second, in case of the age-friendly degree of their neighborhood environments, the space layout of house was the highest, and then traffic, pedestrian road, and the amount of housing for the elderly, in order. The consideration degree of wheelchair users was the lowest. Third, the age-friendly degree of pedestrian road, traffic, and room layout of house in rural area were higher than in urban area. However, the amount of housing for the elderly in urban area was higher than in rural area.
