The A*STAR IHDP Seminars: Human Potential series

As the global population ages, societies must address the challenge of providing effective elder care while enhancing community resilience. By 2050, the elderly population is expected to double, making it crucial to adopt age-ready practices. Older individuals face unique vulnerabilities, necessitating strategies that integrate person-centred care and community engagement. Developing age-inclusive community plans is essential. These plans should create accessible spaces and services tailored to older persons' needs. Housing must be designed to maintain comfort and efficiency, protecting older residents while promoting sustainability. Urban and residential designs should incorporate features like smart home technologies and accessible infrastructure to support elderly independence and compensate for caregiver shortages. Establishing age-friendly communities with hubs for social engagement, resource distribution, and community building ensures that older adults are integral parts of their communities. Empowering older persons in community roles enriches societal resilience. Initiatives like "Ibasho" show that when older adults are involved in planning, they significantly improve societal cohesion and preparedness. These community hubs, driven by elderly leadership, enhance resource distribution and social support networks. Valuing the wisdom and experience of our elders enables the creation of inclusive, adaptable communities, fostering a society where all generations thrive and contribute meaningfully. In this session, founder of Ibasho, Dr Emi Kiyota, introduces the role of elder-led community engagement and the lessons learned from various initiatives. You will gain knowledge about how we can tackle societal issues by empowering older people, turning their wisdom and experience into valuable resources for building stronger, more resilient communities.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr Emi Kiyota
Deputy Executive Director, Centre for Population Health, National University of Singapore
Associate Professor, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore
Advisor, Corporate Infrastructure Office, National University Health System
Founder of Ibasho

Dr Emi Kiyota is an Associate Professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and College of Design and Engineering; and Deputy Executive Director, Centre for Population Health at the National University of Singapore.

She is an environmental gerontologist, consultant and organisational culture change specialist, with over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing person-centred care practice in long-term care facilities and hospitals globally. Her contributions include a vast array of national and international initiatives focused on quality improvement in the built environment for long-term care and ageing services where Dr Kiyota holds great concern for the needs of elders in low-middle income countries.

In 2010, she founded charitable organisation Ibasho, dedicated to co-creating socially integrated, sustainable communities that value their elders, embodying the Japanese concept of a place where one feels at home being oneself. Her current focus is on creating socially integrated and resilient cities where elders are engaged and able to actively participate in their communities.

She has published journal articles and book chapters in Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the United States, and has done pre-design programming including for senior housing and addiction treatment centres.

Dr Kiyota holds a PhD in architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Horticulture Therapy from Kansas State University. She has received fellowships including the Loeb Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency Fellowship and the Atlantic Fellowship for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute at University of California, San Francisco.

Dr Kiyota is currently based in Singapore and incorporating Ibasho into the Health District@Queenstown. The pilot programme aims to design an age-friendly community by creating integrated solutions to enhance the health and well-being of residents across their life stages.

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