Mass. Ave. Station
Pet Network
Possible Elderly Programs
Metro Elderly Community
What are we proposing?
Loneliness is part of a constellation of social, emotional and health outcomes for the elderly which collectively form one of the greatest public health issues worldwide. Various factors, such as losing connections with family and friends, and economic issues contribute to social isolation for the elderly, leading directly into the growing problem of “lonely death.”It is possible to address this social problem almost entirely via architectural means, working within the existing infrastructure of cities.
This thesis proposes a scattered elderly community within selected Boston MBTA Orange Line stations. The target group is made up of elderly Bostonians who live by themselves and have relative low-income levels compared to the state poverty line, who have lived their entire lives in the city and do not wish to move into conventional elderly communities.
Using existing infrastructure, a network is created to either connect stations to surrounded context by offering help from the elderly to assist other generations in various ways. To propose hybrid architecture for each station, and flexible boundaries and buffer zones in-between the interior and the adjacent urban area, which enables the indoor space to merge into outdoors; this elderly community will engender a feeling of inclusivity and a sense of belonging between elder participants and community members by providing each with an incentive to spend time with the other; also between elder participants and the society by providing a space with connectivity instead of isolation. Thus, eventually, help the elderly fulfill their later lives and reconnect back to society.
What is Lonely Death?
What is Lonely Death?
Lonely Death refers to a Japanese phenomenon of people dying alone and remaining undiscovered for a long period of time, the main reason for the body’s discovery was the slight smell that troubled the tenant.
Lonely Death refers to a Japanese phenomenon of people dying alone and remaining undiscovered for a long period of time, the main reason for the body’s discovery was the slight smell that troubled the tenant.
Most of them occurred in social segregation, among 70% are male.
With the aging population and the changes in the family structure, the elderly are the main group that is experiencing a social phenomenon of “lonely death the most.
What Cause Lonely Death?
The Main reason that causes Lonely Death is lack of social contacts with others (family, friends, and neighbors),
and the reasons for individual disconnect with others could be...
Usually, Lonely Death deduct share certain common characteristics such as:
Who Can Die A Lonely Death?
Since most of Lonely Death cases happened on elderly, so we specify our target to the people who is over 65+. There are an estimated 962 million people aged 65+ in the world, 46 million are from the U.S. And the number is still rapidly increasing.
Possible Ways to Prevent Loneliness Through Connecting People
Since most of Lonely Death cases happened on elderly, so we specify our target to the people who is over 65+. There are an estimated 962 million people aged 65+ in the world, 46 million are from the U.S. And the number is still rapidly increasing.
Base on the research, one in four elderly live alone.
In 46 million of elderly people in the State, about 7 million of them live alone and living at or below the federal poverty level (FPL) ($29,425 per year for a single person), which means 3 in 10 elderly are living alone; 2 in 3 are living alone with low-income.
Why Boston?
Among all the cities in the US, the ranking of the elderly population in Boston is the 22nd, with the giant number of 62,237. These statistics provide a rationale for this thesis proposal to take Boston as the site to implement the design.
Why Metro Line?
Compared to conventional elderly community, our proposal is better in the following aspects: communications with multiple generations are more likely to happen spontaneously; lower expense of using the proposed system since it relies on the existing infrastructures; the elderly feel more familiar and comfortable with the proposed system since they are used to taking metro lines in their daily lives; the system helps them to move more frequently traveling from stations to stations compared to the conventional elderly community.
Why Orange Line?
Among orange, blue, red and green Metro Line, Orange Metro Line MBTA is the optimal option to implement the design in aspects of daily ridership, demographics in neighborhoods around and metro line total distance range. For example, Red Metro Line has a relatively complex and high daily ridership, which makes it difficult and not safe for the elderly to ride each day; neighborhoods near Green Metro Line are mostly constituted of white collars, and Blue Metro Line only covers a small range of the city, which leads to relatively low design potential.
Why the 4 Stations?
By analyzing stations’ architectural qualities, elderly population over 65, among which who live by themselves, and who have low income compared to the States Poverty Line, this proposal narrowed it down to 5 stations among all the 20 to implement design ideas: Jackson Square, Forest Hills, Mass. Ave, Ruggles, and Assembly. Reasons are varied: for example, there is relatively high elder population of whom living by themselves with low income near the first 4 stations, which falls into the category of our target group; while Assembly station is the newest station, with good ADA facilities, ample natural light, and unique architectural form.
