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Background: As the global demographic shifts towards an ageing population, the significance of the built environment in facilitating ageing in place gains prominence. This study addresses the critical question of how a built environment can support older adults' independence and enhance their quality of life. Method: Utilising a systematic review of review papers, this research scrutinises existing literature to uncover the influence of urban planning, physical accessibility, and residential design on the older people's physical and mental well-being. More specially, the study methodically examines existing review articles that span various aspects of the built environment related to ageing in place. Results: The analysis reveals that specific elements of the built environment, notably rational urban planning and accessible urban spaces, as well as adaptable housing designs, significantly impact ageing individuals' health, social engagement, and overall satisfaction with life. It also identifies contradictions in the effects of environmental features on cognitive health and well-being, underscoring areas that warrant further exploration. Conclusions: The study concludes that thoughtful urban and housing designs are pivotal in creating age-friendly environments that support ageing in place. It emphasises the need for future research and policy development aimed at enhancing the living conditions of older adults within their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a case study on Bribie Island in Queensland, Australia, this study investigates Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) as a viable alternative for ageing-in-place. Aim: The objectives were to investigate why older adults relocate to Bribie Island, how they perceive their living environment, and their future relocation intentions. Method: The research data were attained through semi-structured interviews with 21 Bribie Island residents, aged 65 and older. These data provided the basis for an in-depth understanding of the residents' perspectives and experiences, with respect to their community and living conditions. Results: The findings indicate that, overall, the participants expressed a high level of satisfaction with their current living environment; however, they also highlight areas for improvement, particularly the transportation and healthcare facilities. Significantly, most respondents confirmed their desire and intention to continue residing on the island. Conclusion: As exemplified by this Bribie Island case study, this study confirms that NORCs offer desirable settings for ageing-in-place. Recognizing the diversity and range of personal preferences, this study emphasizes the importance of ongoing research to develop responsive, inclusive, and supportive environments, to strategically improve the amenities within future NORCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid advancement of technology has revolutionised how we live and work, posing challenges and opportunities for various professions, including the property and construction workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the pace of change. Therefore, in this study, we examined the future property workforce and the required skills for Property Industry 4.0 by conducting semi-structured interviews with property leaders. The findings suggest that digitisation and automation are reshaping the property workforce, including those working in development and construction, necessitating efforts to bridge the gap between graduates' technology proficiency and practical application. Moreover, calls for proactive regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) use in the property sector highlight the need for regulator and professional body involvement. This study also shows the challenges and opportunities for property professionals with an increased focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters and the challenges of balancing global expansion with local adaptability due to globalisation. Furthermore, this work highlights a concerning decline in communication skills among graduates, which is partly attributed to the pandemic. Collaborative efforts between universities and industry are essential to cultivate these vital skills among future property professionals. The implications of this study are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a spatial and temporal analysis of naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) in the Greater Brisbane region using the latest ABS Census 2021 data. Four methods of spatial analysis were employed to identify the distribution and evolution of NORCs: (i) geovisualisation, (ii) spatial autocorrelation, (iii) cluster and outlier analysis, and (iv) hotspot and cold spot analysis. The findings from this data analysis are consistent with previous research findings that NORCs are developing at a fast pace and are concentrated along the Brisbane River and coastline areas, where an increasing number of older people are relocating for better ageing in place, i.e., ageing at home in the community as long as possible. In addition, the spatial distribution of NORCs is characterized by a preference for cluster, with most of the NORC population located in coastal areas. Furthermore, older people moving out and younger people moving in are the primary reasons why the city and the south area are becoming cold spots. The findings of this study will provide practical implications for various stakeholders to assist older Australians in ageing in place as long as they desire by developing age-friendly community environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an alternative to ageing at home in the community, naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) have great potential to facilitate ageing in place; however, they have not attracted much research attention. This study conducts an overview of NORCs, aiming to examine the previous research in a comprehensive manner in order to explore how NORCs impact ageing in place, with the goal of guiding future research. The research presented here employs the content analysis method to review prior NORC-related studies and categorise research themes and findings following top-down coding principles. A total of 49 articles were selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and the results show that the "social environment", which was the most discussed topic (n = 24), provides the necessary mental support and physical motivation for older adults to live actively in NORCs, and that NORCs play a positive role in preserving public resources and promoting individual health. The limitations of this study include the fact that there is little public information on NORC programs and the subjective classification of themes, among others. This study acts as a foundation for future research on NORCs, which serve as a perfect model for healthy ageing in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of the increasingly ageing populations of developed countries places residential issues of these populations at the heart of urban policy. Retirement villages as housing options for older adults in Australia has been growing steadily in recent years; however, there have been a dearth of geographical studies looking into the distribution of existing retirement villages at the regional level. This study aims to reveal the geographical distributions and cluster patterns of retirement villages in the Greater Brisbane Region of Australia to better understand and serve the living requirements of current and potential retirement village residents. The geovisualization method was adopted to visually explore the distribution patterns of retirement villages. The Global Moran’s I and Local Moran’s I measures were employed to analyze the spatial correlation and the clusters of retirement villages in the study region. The study revealed that distribution of retirement villages was not random (z-score = 7.11; p < 0.001), but clustered in nature and included hotspot patterns, especially along the coastline and Brisbane River areas. Moreover, for-profit and not-forprofit retirement villages have different distribution patterns and adopted significantly different tenure agreements. In the study region, the spatial distribution of retirement villages aligns with the aggregation trend of older residents. The findings of this study disclosed the spatial distribution patterns of retirement villages and will provide developers and policymakers with geographically referenced data for the choice of new development sites to meet the market demand of potential customers, forming aged-friendly development strategies, and eventually leading to improved quality of life for older Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has one of the highest rates of residential photovoltaics penetration in the world. The willingness of households to privately invest in energy infrastructure, and the maturing of battery technology, provides significant scope for more efficient energy networks. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the scope for promoting distributed generation and storage from within existing network spending. In this paper, a techno-economic analysis is conducted to evaluate the economic impacts on networks of private investment in energy infrastructure. A highly granular probabilistic model of households within a test area was developed and an economic evaluation of both household and network sectors performed. Results of this paper show that PV only installations carry the greatest private return and, at current battery prices, the economics of combined PV and battery systems is marginal. However, when network benefits arising from reducing residential evening peaks, improved reliability, and losses avoided are considered, this can more than compensate for private economic losses. The main conclusion of this paper is that there is significant scope for network benefits in retrofitting existing housing stock through the incentivization of a policy of a more rapid adoption of distributed generation and residential battery storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]