Conclusions

The seniors’ population is increasing and the general population is aging.

Various levels of physical functioning and personal activity in everyday life depend on demands placed on them by the physical environment, such as the urban form and built environment (Lawton & Nahemow, 1973). A universally accessible built environment plays a significant facilitating factor in seniors’ desire to participate in society and age actively. On the other side, built environment can also be constraining for seniors or people with disabilities. Therefore, the physical or built environment of a city can be viewed as a social support system for seniors or people with disabilities.

This study assessed on the adequacy of the urban design manuals of the Cities of Kitchener and Waterloo in meeting the needs of local seniors. The guidelines in these design manuals were compared with the Universal Design Principles, Design of Public Spaces Standards by AODA, and Assessment Checklist derived from the literature review to observe if there are policy gaps present in these manuals. In addition, two planners (one each from Kitchener and Waterloo), two focus groups and 19 seniors from both Cities were interviewed to compare and contrast the current urban form with the guidelines and policies in presents in the current Urban Design Manuals.

The design guidelines are based on the high level policies in place at the

Provincial, Regional, and the Municipal levels of government. To comprehend how the Urban Design Manuals work, it was important to understand how local and provincial

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policies influence these documents. The current UDMs guided the content analysis for this study. The guidelines in the City of Kitchener’s Urban Design Manual are based on the Official Plan implemented in 2006. Similarly, the City of Waterloo’s Urban Design Manual is based on official Plan implemented in 2007. In 2012, the City of Waterloo introduced an updated Official Plan, and likewise, the City of Kitchener has a final draft of its Official Plan available on its website³¹. These updated Official Plans have

incorporated the key items of the checklist itemized in Chapter 2 such as reference to guiding principles and analysis of current state of age-friendly (or all age groups) policies, for further improvement. New Official Plans of both the Cities place an

emphasis on Universal Design Principles for creating inclusive urban forms. The current UDMs of both Cities are under review and will incorporate new policies laid out in their new Official Plans and the AODA Act’s Part IV.1, Design of Public Spaces Standards (Accessibility Standards for The Built Environment). According to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment (2005)’s website, starting from

January 2015, new construction and major renovation projects will come under this ACT (2005). These policies provide guidelines to the UDMs. Provincial Policy Statement 2014 witnessed a push to develop more age-friendly communities. Similarly, the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe provide specific directions for future growth and direct municipalities to create complete communities that meet the needs of all ages with varied abilities and disabilities (Government of Ontario, 2006).

31 The Official Plan of the City of Kitchener is under review. The Final Proposed Draft is available for review on the City of Kitchener’s website – www.Kitchener.ca (City of Kitchener, 2014).

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Urban Design Manual analysis along with related high level Provincial and

Regional and Municipal guiding policies and findings of interviews with planners, seniors and Focus groups indicated that the problems seem to arise more with the

implementation of the guidelines rather than the guidelines themselves, which seem to be fairly comprehensive in addressing the needs of seniors.

Both Waterloo and Kitchener have sidewalks and shopping plazas, which can allow seniors to be active. But then the question arises why do seniors still think these are not age friendly? Issues like maintenance of sidewalks in winters, uneven surfaces or non-pedestrian traffic, lack of benches, lack of way-finding information or un-walkable shopping plazas due to vehicular traffic influence seniors’ decisions on whether to go out or not. These types of issues require operational recommendations but these must work within the current policy framework. The policies to deal with these challenges are available, but in fragmented ways. To answer the research question, ‘Do the urban design guidelines of Kitchener and Waterloo address the needs of an aging population?’

it can be suggested that the urban design guidelines of both Cities meet the needs of seniors from a theoretical or policy framework. However, seniors from both Cities feel that the urban form is of an average category and requires significant improvements.

In conclusion, looking at the cumulative results derived from the analysis of Urban Design Manuals, interviews with planners, focus groups and seniors (the ultimate user group), I observed that the overall picture is not only about what is written in the policy books, but also about implementing those policies and guidelines; about knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the current urban form; about the implications of not

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being able to meet the needs of seniors and people with a disability; and about knowing the opportunities that these Cities have and working on them.

Likewise, other municipalities and regions working to make their Cities age-friendly need to have a closer look at what they have together and work towards a common goal of making their Cities, neighbourhoods or communities inclusive and accessible for all. Below are my recommendations to creating more age-friendly cities.