Speech by MOS Tan Kiat How at the World Ageing Festival 2022
May 25, 2022
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for inviting me to the World Ageing Festival.
The topic of ageing is important to everyone and it is particularly relevant to Singapore. Our population is greying rapidly, we are all getting older. Our people are living longer lives. In 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be above 65 years old, as compared to close to one in eleven worldwide.
We want our seniors to age with dignity and lead independent lives. A key part of this is to ensure that our public spaces and infrastructure are thoughtfully planned and designed so that that our living environment remains conducive for healthy ageing.
In a survey that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) conducted, more than 8 in 10 elderly residents intended to continue living in their existing flats. Many seniors prefer to age in environments they are familiar with, surrounded by family and neighbours they can depend on.
What this means is that (1) our infrastructure and systems must evolve to support our changing demographics, and (2) we must do more to enable our seniors to comfortably age in place. Let me take this opportunity to share some of our thoughts and approach.
HDB’s Designing for Life Roadmap
HDB, the master planner and developer of Singapore’s public housing estates, recognises the importance of providing a quality living environment for Singaporeans at every stage of their lives.
In Oct 2020, HDB launched its new, “Designing for Life” roadmap, to help realise this vision.
The roadmap is supported by three pillars – “Live Well”, “Live Green”, and “Live Connected”. It takes a resident-centred approach, and focuses on planning and designing around residents’ physical, mental and social needs, to create homes that contribute to their physical health, and encourage social connections.
In particular, on living well, one of HDB’s focus is to create safer and more inclusive living environments for seniors, both in new developments and through the upgrading of existing HDB spaces.
Since 2006, all new HDB developments have been built with universal design principles and barrier-free access to create an inclusive living environment for all ages. Our corridors and doorways are designed to be wider to facilitate wheelchair movement. Precincts are designed with gentle sloping ramps along barrier-free routes, and 3-generation playgrounds where children’s playgrounds are located in close proximity to fitness stations.
There are also wheelchair-accessible planter boxes so that everyone can participate in community gardening to strengthen neighbourly ties. In addition, seniors can apply for HDB’s Enhancement for Active Seniors (EASE) programme to install senior-friendly features in their homes, such as grab bars and mobility ramps for wheelchair users.
We have also been rolling out HDB flat types to meet the needs of seniors. One example is the 2-room Flexi flats, which come with shorter leases and various Optional Component Scheme (OCS) packages for seniors to choose from, such as sanitary fittings and built-in kitchen cabinets, subject to the duration of the lease.
We are also looking at ways to better integrate public housing with amenities that can serve the needs on seniors. In 2017, we completed the Kampung Admiralty development, which is an integrated public housing development. It features flats for seniors, with facilities such as a medical centre, hawker centre, an Active Ageing Hub, and retail outlets, all under one roof.
Last year, we also launched the first pilot Community Care Apartments (CCAs), Harmony Village @Bukit Batok. This is a new public housing typology that integrates senior-friendly housing with social activities and care services that can be scaled according to individual needs, to support our seniors to age independently within the community. The first pilot was very well-received, and we will launch a second CCA pilot this year in Queenstown.
Pilot Health District @ Queenstown
However, developing and implementing solutions to ageing are tricky and complex.
The concept of ageing well is multi-faceted as it covers all aspects of seniors’ lives – their physical and mental health, social well-being, and so on. These are all intertwined – going to a playground is not just about physical health, but also interacting with your neighbours and young children, and that brings emotional well-being as well.
One’s health is also influenced by multiple determinants. Studies show that 60% of our health is influenced by social, behavioural and environmental factors, 30% by genetics, and only 10% influenced by healthcare. Therefore, apart from thinking about interlinkages from the user’s point of view, we also need to consider solutions along these findings. And this requires different government agencies as well as agencies from the, private, academic and civic sectors to work together.
Many countries around the world are coming up with various solutions, but helping our elderly live well in a modern urban and digital environment is very much a work-in-progress, even in countries that have given a lot of attention and resources to this matter.
Our journey over the years, with our upgrading programmes or public housing typologies like the CCAs, has been one of continuous learning. Over the years, we have persistently sought new ways to better cater to the needs of residents.
In October last year, we announced another exciting project, the pilot Health District @ Queenstown. This is a collaboration between HDB, the National University Health System (NUHS) and the National University of Singapore (NUS), as well as other multiple stakeholders across the public, private and people sectors.
As part of this initiative, we also tap on the experience and insights of experts from around the world, through an International Advisory Panel that is chaired by Professor Jack Rowe from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
In Queenstown, we are looking to develop a suite of solutions – community-driven programmes, infrastructure, digital solutions and so on – that can collectively enhance the health and well-being of residents across their life stages. And this will be done with scientific evidence, proper trials and data to validate the approach.
I am very excited to share some early thoughts and welcome any insights and views from all of you. We look at four main areas –
First, improving the planning and design of the HDB environment to encourage healthy lifestyles and to support ageing in place. For instance, Queen’s Arc, a new public housing development launched in Queenstown in August 2021, is designed with various initiatives to promote healthy living, encourage positive social interactions and promote active lifestyles. The development will be well connected to the Rail Corridor, a 24km-long green space converted from our old railway. The location is also near to the Alexandra Hospital, providing residents with better access to healthcare services.
Second, enhancing preventive health and care delivery, for example, by encouraging residents to take greater ownership of their health, in line with our national guidelines on screening, vaccination and lifestyle choices, and identifying high risk populations for targeted interventions to increase healthy longevity.
Third, enabling purposeful longevity by providing opportunities for residents to pursue their interests, participate in lifelong learning and actively contribute to areas such as work, family and the community. One interesting activity is a course that uses design principles to help people manage major work-life transitions and plan for a “100-year life”.
Fourth, co-designing affordable technological solutions with the community to improve residents’ lives.
We will continue to develop ideas around these four areas of focus.
The pilot gives us an opportunity to identify more of such integrated solutions. And this will be done, not just with experts and planners, but importantly, with the community who will work with the Government to co-create and try out new solutions together. We can learn from and replicate many of the ideas to the rest of Singapore.
Conclusion
Our seniors have played and continue to play an important role in building Singapore. Similarly, seniors in other countries have also contributed to their societies. Our duty is to ensure that our seniors continue to live well, and enjoy their golden years.
Conferences like these are essential as they bring together experts and leaders from all around the world, to discuss this important topic. I am heartened to see the achievements that many of you have made in the eldercare sector, and I hope this platform will provide useful takeaways and thoughtful insights for everyone that will inspire better and more innovative solutions for our seniors and ourselves in the years to come. I wish everyone a fruitful and enjoyable conference today.