Quality of Life of Elderly Living in Cities: Investigating the Social Responsiveness Attributes of a Middle-Income Settlement in Colombo District

Abstract

Urbanization and population aging are two key phenomena for elders living in cities of low- and middle-income countries. Quality of life (QoL) of elders is significant to ensure healthy aging. The majority of studies on QoL of elders in Sri Lanka, have prioritized elders’ health and less interest has been evident in their living environments. Thus, the study investigates social responsiveness attributes of the places of aging in achieving quality-of-life of the elderly. The selected case study is a high-density, middle-income settlement in Colombo. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 37 randomly selected respondents aged over 60 years. Axial map and frequency analysis were performed on the survey data. The results explicitly indicate the adverse impact on the health and social relationships of the elderly in the middle-income settlement. Findings of the study inform three major quality of life measures of elders, such as state of safety (20.2%), support (18.7%), and neighborhood setting (13.9%). Furthermore, loneliness and lack of freedom are associated with the prominent health-related concerns of elders. Thus, the attributes identified have far-reaching design implications on the creation of an inclusive urban living environment for the elderly. Moreover, these attributes could facilitate the decision-making process of age-friendly cities. This will eventually influence the national health budget in future, since Sri Lanka represents the highest aging population in South Asia.