Abstract

China has the largest and fastest-growing population of people with dementia in the world. It has become urgent to create environments in urban areas where these populations can live and thrive. This paper provides an in-depth case study of dementia activity centres and dementia cafes in public spaces in China. It highlights contemporary social issues, such as the lack of universal education and dementia-friendly spaces. Through an examination of these challenges from the perspective of the built environment, this paper proposes cognitively friendly design strategies at the levels of appearance and function. It also incorporates principles of inclusive design, together with a theoretical framework for the construction of the construction of cognitively dementia-friendly spaces. Finally, this paper explores these strategies from the perspectives of spatial transformation, people's aspirations and social support.

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