Retirement village development for the elderly : applying the concept of public-private partnership

In the last couple of decades, the percentage of older adults has increased significantly globally. For example, in Australia, between 1993 and 2013, the percentage of people aged 65+ has increased from 11.6% to 14.4% (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2013). In fact, the proportion of older Australians has been projected to increase to 20% by 2056 (Bo et al. 2015). Also, in China, specifically Shenzen, it has been projected that by 2020, the ageing population will reach 10% of the total population in the city (Zhen 2016). Essentially, the rapid demographic ageing globally has put a lot of pressure on many social amenities including housing (Hu et al. 2017). Currently, there are many housing options for older adults; however, a significant proportion of them prefer to live independently in a retirement village. This is because retirement villages or otherwise called aged care homes have been noted to be agefriendly compared to family homes. Retirement villages usually have a range of on-site household facilities and support services such as libraries, hairdressing saloons, transportation, etc. (NSW Government 2017; Liu et al. 2018).