Policy Recommendations for Aging-Friendly Rural Houses: a Weihai Case Study

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-782-3_16How to use a DOI?

Keywords

older people; rural; living environment; housing policy

Abstract

The urgency of population aging and housing conditions has made the residential environment a crucial factor influencing the health and well-being of elderly individuals, particularly in rural areas. In China, elderly residents in rural regions commonly face aging housing structures, inadequate indoor thermal comfort, and limited policy support for housing renovation. This study systematically examines the housing conditions and indoor thermal environment of elderly residents in rural Weihai, China. Based on field surveys conducted in six villages, a total of 340 valid questionnaires were collected from elderly residents aged 60 and above. The findings reveal that the spatial layout of rural housing presents safety risks, and the indoor thermal environment fails to meet the comfort needs of most elderly residents. Although a majority of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with indoor thermal conditions, financial constraints hindered many elderly individuals from undertaking housing renovations. This study highlights the negative impact of the current rural housing environment on the safety and comfort of elderly residents and proposes policy recommendations based on survey data. The proposed measures include: establishing a comprehensive policy framework for rural housing, providing housing subsidies tailored for elderly rural residents, improving rural infrastructure and public services, and enhancing technical support and training to improve the living quality and well-being of the elderly in rural areas.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Jinhao Zhang
AU  - Jun Lu
AU  - Wu Deng
AU  - Paolo Beccarelli
AU  - Isaac Yu Fat Lun
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/07/04
TI  - Policy Recommendations for Aging-Friendly Rural Houses: a Weihai Case Study
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 2nd International Conference on Urban Planning and Design (UPD 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 153
EP  - 165
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-782-3_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-782-3_16
ID  - Zhang2025
ER  -