Designing Dementia‐Friendly Neighbourhoods: Helping People with Dementia to Get Out and About

Abstract

This paper summarises research funded by the EPSRC EQUAL programme from 2000 to 2003 to examine how neighbourhoods could be made dementia‐friendly. Design for dementia generally focuses on the internal environment of dementia care homes and facilities, but most people with dementia live at home. Unless they are able to use their local neighbourhoods safely, they are likely to become effectively housebound. There is also increasing awareness of the role the outdoor environment plays in the health, independence, well‐being and cognitive function of people with dementia. The research defined dementia‐friendly neighbourhoods as welcoming, safe, easy and enjoyable for people with dementia and others to access, visit, use and find their around. It identified six design principles: familiarity, legibility, distinctiveness, accessibility, comfort and safety. A number of recommendations for designing and adapting neighbourhoods to be dementia‐friendly arose from the research.