Older adults’ out-of-home behaviors (OOHBs) are critical for maintaining health and quality of life. Taking Singapore’s Yuhua East as a case, this study applied a qualitative approach to explore what neighborhood environmental factors influence older adults’ OOHBs. Twelve older adults were recruited for walk-along interviews through the use of purposeful convenience sampling. A content analysis was conducted using NVivo 11 via an inductive approach. Research results revealed 12 categories of environmental factors that affected older adults’ OOHBs: access to facilities (shops and services, public transit, and connectivity), pedestrian infrastructure (sidewalk quality, sheltered walkways, universal design, crossings, benches, and public toilets), aesthetics (natural elements, buildings, noise, and cleanliness), traffic safety (behavior of other road users and road width), safety from crime, wayfinding, familiarity (long-term residency and routine activities), weather, social contact, high-rise, high-density (lifts, population density, flat size, and privacy), affordability (shops and services, as well as transportation), and maintenance and upgrading. This analysis concluded that access to facilities and pedestrian infrastructure are important for older adults’ OOHBs. Considering Singapore’s weather, sheltered walkways, the proximity of facilities and connectivity should be given serious emphasis. In addition to physical factors, social contacts and the affordability of shops and services are also important.

Most of the time, urban planning tends to exclude the specific needs and perceptions of women, resulting in spaces that fail to meet their safety needs. This study explores the impact of physical environment factors on women’s safety perceptions in neighborhood parks in Jordan. While a few studies on this topic have been conducted in Jordan, this research makes a unique contribution by focusing on the interaction between physical design factors and demographic characteristics, examining how these factors influence women’s safety perceptions. Focusing on women’s safety in neighborhood parks, a survey was conducted and involved a sample of 380 women, using a random sampling method. confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to identify underlying relationships between safety-related factors, while cluster analysis was used to group women based on their shared safety perceptions. The results revealed statistically significant differences and identified five distinct clusters, demonstrating varied perceptions of safety among women. This study emphasizes the importance of tailoring park designs to meet women’s specific safety needs, recognizing the diversity of priorities across demographic groups. The findings offer actionable insights for urban planners and policymakers, guiding the development of safer public spaces that respond to the varied needs of women.

Out-of-home activities are critical for older adults’ health and quality of life. Using field observations and interviews, this study investigated what neighborhood environmental characteristics influence older adults’ out-of-home activities in a high-rise, high-density neighborhood in Singapore. Except for individual characteristics, this study revealed four environmental themes (i.e., physical environment, social environment, service environment/management, information and technological systems) and 18 subthemes affecting older adults’ out-of-home activities. It highlights the importance of neighborhood spaces for encouraging active and healthy aging. To further encourage out-of-home activities, neighborhood planning and design should protect the public domain and pay more attention to the pedestrian circulation system and design details.