Transforming Arab Cities into age-friendly cities Indicators of Public Spaces and Buildings ‎‏ ‏

Global ageing is on the rise, and ageing is expected to become one of the social ‎challenges of the twenty-first century and will change in all sectors of society, such as ‎financial markets, goods and services, housing, transport and family relations. ‎‏‎
The age group above 60 years is the most developed group worldwide. This is also ‎evident in the Arab States (ESCWA countries). Although they are now experiencing ‎slow to medium progress, studies and research suggest that this pace will accelerate in ‎the coming decades.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a general methodological ‎framework that addresses the issues of older persons. Many countries in the Western ‎world have begun to apply and develop this framework in accordance with the needs ‎and potential of each city, either in the Arab States. The main objective of the research ‎was to build on these experiences and develop a methodology for how to transform ‎Arab cities into cities friendly to older persons, focusing on the urban hub of the outdoor ‎areas and buildings and the development of metrics of the public arenas. ‎‏‎
To achieve this goal, the research has drawn on the analytical descriptive approach of ‎reports and studies on cities friendly to older persons, as well as on the situation of ‎Ottawa, Canada, and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and on how to transform into a ‎city friendly to older persons in general, together with the detailed study of the urban ‎hub of outdoor and building spaces, and the study of indicators of this axis, which is ‎important in the stages of becoming a city friendly to older persons.
The research found a methodology that helps decision makers to become a friendly city ‎for older persons in general, and to establish a measure of the efficiency and ‎effectiveness of outdoor and building arenas to meet the requirements of older persons.