Activity-Friendly Built Environments in a Super-Aged Society, Japan: Current Challenges and toward a Research Agenda.

Mohammad Javad Koohsari; Tomoki Nakaya; Koichiro Oka
Abstract
There is a growing recognition of the role of built environment attributes, such as streets, shops, greenways, parks, and public transportation stations, in supporting people's active behaviors. In particular, surrounding built environments may have an important role in supporting healthy active aging. Nevertheless, little is known about how built environments may influence active lifestyles in "super-aged societies". More robust evidence-based research is needed to identify how people live influences their active behaviors, and how to build beneficial space in the context of super-aged societies. This evidence will also be informative for the broader international context, where having an aging society will be the inevitable future. This commentary sought to move this research agenda forward by identifying key research issues and challenges in examining the role of built environment attributes on active behaviors in Japan, which is experiencing the longest healthy life expectancy, but rapid "super-aging", with the highest proportion of old adults among its population in the world.where
Journal INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
ISSN 1660-4601
Published 19 Sep 2018
Volume 15
Issue 9
Pages
DOI 10.3390/ijerph15092054
Type Journal Article | Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Sponsorship