Currently, the worldwide society is going through two main phenomena: the growing proportion of aged individuals within the complete inhabitants and the rising aged inhabitants in city areas. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the speed of inhabitants getting older is accelerating at an unprecedented tempo, and the world’s inhabitants aged 60 and over is anticipated to quickly improve from 12% to 22% between 2015 and 2050. [1]In Iran, the aged inhabitants exceeded 7 million (roughly 9%) within the 2016 census, and this proportion is estimated to exceed 10% by 2050. [2, 3]In current years, declining start charges, elevated life expectancy, technological advances, and the financial and social growth of society have modified Iran’s demographics, leading to a rise within the variety of aged individuals within the nation. [4]Iran is the second largest nation within the Middle East with an space of 1,648,195 km2 (Figure 1). Located on the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, it’s dwelling to over 89 million individuals. [5, 6]Iran, because of its wealthy and historic tradition, attracts a big variety of international vacationers yearly, a lot of whom are aged. [7]Demographic modifications affecting this age group are elevating considerations.
Figure 1
Location of Iran on globe. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_on_the_globe_%28Iran_centered%29.svg)
Over the previous 20 years, the simultaneous rise of inhabitants ageing and urbanization has introduced the idea of “age-friendly cities” into the highlight. Age-friendly cities are cities the place older individuals have the identical rights as residents of different age teams. In such cities, city requirements and design are revered and acceptable alternatives for older individuals’s participation and security are created. These cities are designed for older individuals with completely different skills. [8]This idea emphasizes lively ageing so as to improve the well being and security of older adults and in the end enhance their high quality of life. It is necessary to establish the capabilities and desires of older adults and supply them with alternatives to extend their efficient participation and social presence. [9]Age-friendly cities are people who function city services and infrastructure that allow lively ageing, the place older individuals can actively take part in society no matter their skills. In distinction, insufficient city area and lack of assist for lively ageing can undermine the general well being of society and result in elevated worry, social isolation, despair and incapacity amongst older individuals. [10].
In 2007, WHO launched eight domains of age-friendly cities, together with open areas and public services, transport, housing, social inclusion, social respect and acceptance, civic participation and employment, communication and data, social assist and well being providers. Assessing the situation of a metropolis primarily based on these indicators supplies perception into whether or not town is age-friendly. [11]Several research on age-friendly cities have been performed in numerous cities in Iran, taking a look at completely different indicators, with some research evaluating all indicators. [12]On the opposite hand, some research deal with particular indicators of cities. [13] or a particular metropolis district [14]The outcomes of those research range by area: for instance, a research in Mashhad reported a comparatively good state of affairs for town’s aged. [15]Meanwhile, one other research discovered that Karaj’s requirements for an age-friendly metropolis have been lower than par. [16]The evaluation of those research supplies a partial understanding of Iran’s present state of affairs concerning age-friendly metropolis indicators.
Given the growing urbanization and the rising impression of the encompassing setting on older individuals, guaranteeing their security and luxury is extra necessary than ever. Therefore, it’s obligatory to judge the social and concrete state of affairs, adapt city areas to fulfill the wants of older individuals, and promote the presence and exercise of older individuals within the nation.
the aim
The researchers performed a scientific overview to deal with the query: “How does Iran fare by way of indicators of age-friendly cities?”
Method/Design
This systematic overview research investigated the standing of age-friendly metropolis indicators in Iranian cities. This systematic overview adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) pointers and guidelines. [17]It was registered within the Prospero database underneath the quantity CRD42023475657 on November 8, 2023. Articles on indicators of elderly-friendly cities in Iran collected as much as March 1, 2024.
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Figure 2
The course of of choosing articles and reviewing the literature
Search technique
The search technique used varied English language databases and search engines like google and yahoo resembling Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, Google Scholar and ScienceDirect. The search included key phrases resembling “Age-friendly”, “elderly-friendly”, “cities”, “older adults”, “Aging”, “aged”, “indicators”, “elements”, “standards”, “options”, “traits”, “indexes”, “Iran”, “city area” and their MeSH equivalents utilizing “AND” and “OR” operators. In addition, Persian language databases resembling Magiran and SID have been searched exhaustively utilizing key phrases resembling “age-friendly”, “metropolis”, “city areas”, “Iran”, “indicators”, “elements”, “traits” and “standards”. The bibliographies of the ultimate papers have been additionally reviewed to make sure the accuracy of the search. Furthermore, guide searches have been additionally performed within the databases to seek out further related works that have been missed within the search course of.
Figure 3
Examples of poor transport design. (Source: Ghaffari Gilandeh A, Mohammadi C, Davari E. Assessment of age-friendly metropolis indicators (case research of Sari). Environ Based Territorial Planning. 2022;15(56):1–25.)
Figure 4
Example of a sidewalk with an unsafe floor. (Source: Ghaffari Gilandeh A, Mohammadi C, Davari E. Assessment of age-friendly metropolis indicators (case research of Sari). Environ Based Territorial Planning. 2022;15(56):1–25.)
Figure 5
Examples of non-standard furnishings and lack of services for the aged. (Source: Sharqi A, Zarghami E, Olfat M, Salehi Kousalari F. Situation evaluation of the Global Age-Friendly Cities Indicator within the Tehran Metropolitan Region (AFC). J Urban – Regional Studies and Research. 2016;8(28):1–22.)
The search technique couldn’t be applied in the identical approach in numerous databases as a result of Boolean operators (NOT, AND, OR) don’t work in some Persian databases. For instance, some Persian databases, resembling SID and Magiran, have restricted superior search capabilities and sensitivity to Boolean operators. Therefore, the search was restricted to the key phrases that produced essentially the most favorable outcomes. The ScienceDirect database doesn’t provide superior search capabilities like different databases. There is a personality restrict within the search field, which permits a most of eight characters for use in a search. As a end result, the search outcomes have been both very restricted or overly broad. Therefore, a search mode that will discover essentially the most related articles was chosen.
However, in different English databases, key phrases have been standardized utilizing Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) phrases and have been utilized for the search (Table 1 ).
Table 1. Database search technique
Research Screening
Data extraction and synthesis
high quality analysis
For qualitative articles, the COREQ guidelines [19] A technique was employed that consisted of a 32-item guidelines with three principal areas: analysis workforce and reflexivity, research design, and knowledge evaluation and reporting. Scores on this guidelines vary from 0 to 32. Articles with scores of 0–10, 11–21, and 22–32 have been thought-about to be of low, medium, and prime quality, respectively. Articles judged to be of low high quality have been excluded from the research.
To scale back bias, all steps of the search, article high quality evaluation, and knowledge extraction have been carried out by two researchers (AS and MAH), with a 3rd researcher (FF) consulted in case of disagreement.
Data evaluation
Findings from the overview of full-text articles have been analyzed and subsequently reported. A deductive, directed, qualitative content material evaluation strategy was used, utilizing the tactic proposed by Hsieh and Shannon (2005). [20]Therefore, in line with the research goals and the standards for age-friendly cities [11]We then created an analytical matrix that structured the traits and ideas of age-friendly cities, extracted the insights gained from the outcomes and discussions of the papers, and positioned them within the acceptable positions within the analytical matrix.