Abstract:

Rapid ageing all over the world is changing the population rates and social structure of the society. The change causes some structural transformations in family structures and social life as well as demographic structures of countries. The subject has been handled by experts in many aspects and theories and approaches to old age have been produced. The 'decline in functional capacity', which starts to decrease as the individual gets older, is the remarkable problem of old age. Social, environmental and economic factors, as well as physical factors, affect the lives of the older persons, and the 'capacity range for maintaining function', which is high in adulthood, opens with old age, thus 'functional capacity' decreases. "Active ageing", which is one of the theories of ageing, reveals the increase in physical limitations/inadequacies as ageing individuals get older because they do not have a homogenous group. The approach also emphasises the 'capacity of the urban environment to support active ageing' in order to enable a healthy and active life course. Through the study, which is produced from the author's doctoral thesis, it is aimed to reveal the contributions of arrangements such as universal design and accessibility that support active ageing to a more livable urban physical environment and social life.

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