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According to the WHO, physical factors of the built environment are considered health determinants and may affect people’s mental health in terms of cognitive perceptions and physical responses, triggering anxiety, stress and depression states. The purpose of this research is to carry out a literature review of the environmental, spatial and technological conditions that may affect occupants’ mental health and well-being, particularly fragile people, such as elderly and people with sensorial or cognitive impairments including autism, and that may work as positive stimuli, or hindering elements for their abilities and limitations, influencing decisively their quality of life. The result consists in a set of guidelines for the design of the built environment that, starting from people with special needs, can improve liveability conditions by favouring mental health and well-being for all.

The World report on ageing and health highlighted the need to ensure age-friendly environments to foster active and healthy ageing because, as the World Health Organization has estimated, the number of people over 60 is set to double by 2050. Recently, SHAFE (Smart, Healthy, Age-Friendly Environments) has been proposed as a design approach to face the challenge of ageing. SHAFE model is focused on two goals: the promotion of smart and inclusive solutions to improve the independent life throughout the life course, regardless of age, gender, disabilities, cultural differences and personal choices; the optimization of social and physical environments, supported by digital tools and services. Nevertheless, studies on how to apply integrated principles of SHAFE to architectural design are still lacking, even if the interdisciplinary network NET4Age-Friendly is the most recent application of SHAFE model and aims to implement its practice and deployment. Based on a literature review, the paper discusses the contribution of environmental design for improving SHAFE approach on architecture, to build living spaces really responding to the changing needs of people from the ageing in place to the long-life approach.