Design Solution 2

After our presentation and getting feedback from our lecturers, we have encountered a few main problems we had to take into consideration for our solutions and proposed design so that we can further develop them.

Firstly, since the idea of an Elderly Town is still new, our group has decided to scale down its size from the original 8 blocks of apartments to 4 blocks instead but keeping the facilities available the same. We have also decided to target the audience at elderly who are living alone, with their spouse or with family (e.g. single adults living with their parents) which means each apartment can have 1 to 4 people living inside.

We needed to find a proposed space in Singapore that is able to let us build and carry out our Elderly Town. It was suggested that we choose an outskirt part of Singapore that is undeveloped. I've decided to do some research into the urban development plan of Singapore and have found some maps that can be useful in our group's research.

The outskirts of Singapore, specifically places like Woodlands, Lim Chu Kang, Pungol and Seng Kang have a lot of room development and the government does have plans on developing areas like this as the other regions are already very crowded.

My only concern is that according to the feedback we did for our survey primary research, it was pointed out that the Elderly Town might be not as ideal because it can be seem as a solution to isolate the elderly. By placing the Elderly Town at the outskirts of the country, it does seem like we are isolating the elderly even though the town will have a bus/train interchange to help them travel out of the town. One of my proposed solution to this would be to build an Elderly Town in each region connected to existing bus interchange and MRT stations. This would solve the problem of isolation and at the same time, we can use the North Region as the area for the pioneer Elderly Town.


Source(s): 

• https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuJ5tQ4UuPF-20MDiJ5mEQiLLrAY1BNpcnWPEUT_1eLWlx47LWvzPd7DOk-9KxXSlKNPImNlaa2lnGnW9uSi9trxV9Txyc6QiVcAG-9K-DCMPiru0HRMSl0_G6uiGPZPcQYJmxrqgID8f/s1600/ST+Graphics+-Singapore+2030.jpg
• https://www.ura.gov.sg/maps/?service=MP2014_DL

Design Solution 1

Solution 1

1. Flats are built shorter in terms of length such that the lift can be located in the center and elderly do not have to walk far.
2. Eateries, clinics, convenience stores are located at void decks or 2nd to 3rd levels of the blocks for convenience.
3. A garden in the middle for the elderly to spend some time outdoors.
4. The interchange is a MRT station and has shuttle buses to aid elderly to travel outside of the town.
5. A supermarket and some shops will be located at the interchange.
6. Link bridges with shelter to allow elderly to travel within blocks to enhance interconnectedness of town.
   
   To consider: Underground carparks for visitors/residences.

Solution 2

1. Larger signboards to show bus number.
2. Replaced with ramp instead of stairs with built in handicapped ramps.
3. Different colour/design to help elderly differentiate the buses easily.
4. Wider and bigger/longer bus to contain more seats.
5. No steps inside, more railings for elderly to hold on to.
6. Emergency buttons in bus.
7. Stop buttons located strategically to make it easier for elderly to press it to alight. Placed within reach and without them having to move out of their seats before the bus stops as it's dangerous for elderly to get off their seats before the bus stops as the bus might come to a stop suddenly. 

Observation Results

Venues: 

• Void Decks
• Supermarkets
• Public Spaces (E.g. Parks, benches)
• Community Clubs

Time:

• Morning
  8am-10am
• Late Afternoon/Evening
  4pm-6pm

Morning, 8am-10am

As early as 7am, there are elderly who attend mass daily morning exercise classes held at the open spaces at the community clubs. This is part of their daily routine for those who are more active.

Supermarkets are crowded with elderly in the morning as well, specifically on Monday.

Late afternoon/evening, 4pm-6pm

Able to find elderly sitting and hanging around void decks and the public spaces such as parks and the benches located along the blocks of HDB flats. Elderly accompanying their grandchildren to the playground.

Some elderly are also seen going for walks as exercise but however facilities made for elderly like the exercise corner found in HDB estates, are hardly used.

Around this time, elderly can be seen heading home with their dinner. Either they headed out just to get food, coming home from work or coming home after going out for leisure purposes.

Research Methodology 2 (Mind Maps)

After doing research on the types of research methodologies, specifically in primary research, available and along with their purposes, advantages and disadvantages. My group chose 3 final approaches that we will take to achieve the relevant data we need in primary research.

 We wrote it down in the form of mind maps which we presented in class.

1. Online Survey

We chose to do an online survey to get quantitative data as online survey is quick and easily accessible to those who have internet access which allows us to get the numbers fast. However, the downside is that elderly may not be IT savvy which means we cannot use the approach of online survey on them. That is why we decided to target our survey at the younger audience, from 18 to 35 years old but not limited to the range. 

A change in target audience from elderly to the younger generation is not irrelevant as we can use the data to understand the relationship between the younger generation with the elderly and to see their understanding of the issues and problems faced by the elderly in the society. We can also obtain their perception of growing old, which everyone will experience, and also their understanding of the public transport and the concern of an ageing population. This allows us to not neglect the elderly who lives with their family (e.g. Children and grandchildren) during our research process as questions will be directed to people who have elderly at home. 

I believe that the data obtained from the online survey can actually provide fresh insights for us compared to approaching elderly for a survey as the mentality of young and old can be different. 

2. Interview

For interview, our target audience is the elderly, age 60 years and above who are not chosen at random (not strangers) but specific elderly like grandparents or relatives or friends. If the survey is targeted at a young audience, there is a need to collect data from the elderly and through the interview we can gain some personal and deeper understanding on the feelings of elderly with regards to our topic rather than large numbers of data. However, due to time restraints, we can't interview a large number of elderly.

3. Observations

Because of the limited number of elderly we can interview due to time restraints, we decided to use observations as one of our methods. Observations is time consuming because in order to obtain accurate results, there is a need to extend the time period of observations and it should happen over the course of maybe a week and not just one day.

But this is a fast way for us to collect data and I think that in surveys and interviews, there is always the possibility of answers not being truthful. Observations allow us to get data that are more factual and quantitative as we will be observing strangers in public places like mrt stations to know what are the preferred mode of transport or the timing(s) elderly prefers to go out or the places they usually frequent. Also if they experience any hiccups (e.g. crowded trains/buses), we can observe it through their facial expressions and body languages.