Housing Planning Criterion for Active Senior Generation -Focused on Baby Boomer in Seoul

Korea`s baby boomers constitute a quarter of the population structure, and they are now faced with super-aged era represented by the life expectancy of 100 years. Since this generation who played a leading role in economic growth of the country has needs for active participation in society and continuous economic activities based on the healthy bodies, sufficient wealth and desires for cultural consumption, it is called `active seniors` as a new demographic class differentiated from the conventional elder generation. This study was intended to investigate housing needs of baby boomers as preliminary seniors in Seoul with the highest residential density of the baby boomers through a bottom-up process from the perspective of consumers, and to select the findings as criteria for residential complex plans. The analysis results showed that `social accessibility` was most highly valued among baby boomers in Seoul, and `medical accessibility` was determined to be the second most important factor. Other items such as `convenience of living` and `spatial cognition` were ranked as the least important factors. These findings suggest that the life style of baby boomers in Seoul is very similar to that pursued by active seniors in terms of life cycle, and it is determined to be a characteristic as a niche for housing needs different from the one found in conventional elder generation.