本研究旨在探討台灣都市舊社區中年長者的戶外環境使用，以 喚起社會大眾正視未來三十年內與日俱增的「失智老人友善環境」需求問題。 本文首先討論高齡化社會與老人失智症之關係與在地老化之高齡照護趨向；接著介紹英國、澳洲近年對「失智老人友善環境」的研究方法：從社區老人之戶外環境使用經驗、環境認知與肢體障 礙，找出有利的環境設計因子，並歸納出「友善環境」的設計原則；繼而以苓雅區舊部落林德官為例，探討高雄市舊社區的高齡人口開放空間使用的質與量問題；最後對市府對舊社區的環境整治政策提出批評與建議。 本文結論指出，為提升社區年長者生活品質，使失智老人能夠儘量做到在地老化，舊社區環境整治工程應該跳脫「工程導向」的 窠臼，納入社會福祉考量並強化設計思維。政府應從速進行台灣在地型「失智老人友善環境」基礎研究，進而擬訂設計準則並納入都市環境設計政策體系，以「囊括式設計」的理念造就市民的「終身社區」。

The purpose of the research is to discuss the use of outdoor environment of the elderly residing in the older urban settlements in Taiwan. It intends to evoke the public awareness of the incremental need of dementia-friendly environment for the Taiwanese society in the next thirty years. This paper first, to discuss the relationship between aged society,,dementia disease and the tendency of aging in place; second, to introduce the approach of dementia-friendly environment studies in the UK, looking for design factors from outdoor experience, environmental recognition and physical barriers of the elderly, and summarized as dementia-friendly design principals; further, this paper takes Ling-Ya district of Kaohsiung as an example, to discuss the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the use of the urban open space in Kaohsiung’s older settlements; finally, to assess the area enhancement policies of the city authority. The conclusions of this research indicate that, to promote the quality of life for the elderly of the communities, to enable the elderly with dementia aging in place, the area enhancement projects in the older settlements should be included with the considerations of social well-being, enhanced design considerations rather than being construction-oriented. It suggests that, to proceed to inclusive- design environment for ‘neighborhood for life’, the governments should conduct local-based dementia-friendly environment research, delineate design guidelines to be integrated with other urban environmental design policies.