Application of Urban Design in Aging in Place in Zargandeh Neighborhood, Tehran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Master’s Student in Urban Design, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Design, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The rapid growth of the elderly population in urban societies has increasingly highlighted the need to improve the quality of life for this group. In this context, the Aging in Place approach, which aims to enable older adults to continue living with an acceptable quality of life within their own neighborhoods, provides an appropriate framework for evaluating and improving urban environments. Despite its importance, the concept of Aging in Place has been addressed less directly and systematically in Iranian research.
This study aims to promote Aging in Place through the application of urban design in the Zargandeh neighborhood of Tehran. To this end, a library-based review was conducted to develop a conceptual model, and a set of relevant criteria and indicators was extracted from international and national academic sources. These indicators were then transformed into spatial layers within a GIS environment and analyzed. By integrating and overlaying these layers, the neighborhood’s condition in terms of elderly quality of life, based on the Aging in Place approach, was assessed and suitable and unsuitable areas were identified.
The results show that some parts of the neighborhood are challenging for older adults due to fine-grained urban fabric, steep slopes, proximity to highways, lack of accessible green spaces, and unequal access to urban services. These conditions require physical interventions to create a more supportive environment for the elderly. Accordingly, a set of design recommendations at both micro and neighborhood scales is proposed. The findings suggest that combining objective and perceptual analyses with spatial tools provides an effective framework for evaluating and enhancing Aging in Place at the neighborhood level.

Highlights

  • This study adapts the concept of ageing in place to the Iranian urban context, linking global theories with the realities of Iranian neighborhoods.
  • The study’s main innovation is the integration of individual characteristics, neighborhood environment, and the temporal dimension into a unified framework that views ageing as a dynamic process.
  • The findings show that spatial inequalities in access to services and amenities lead to differences in the quality of ageing experiences.
  • By combining GIS-based spatial analysis with walk-along perceptual data, the study enables a comparison between the physical city and the experienced city.
  • The proposed framework identifies neighborhood-scale urban design as an effective tool for enhancing older adults’ independence and social well-being.

Keywords

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 11 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 19 February 2026
  • Accept Date: 06 March 2026
  • First Publish Date: 06 March 2026
  • Publish Date: 21 June 2026

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