Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Project 1 Liu Hongyang Feedback
Project 1 Liu Hongyang Feedback
LIU Hongyang_MSD_NPI
There are three degrees of poverty: 1) extreme, or absolute, poverty defined by the World Bank as a
household that gets by on less than $1 a day, not enough to support the basic needs of survival; 2) moderate poverty, defined as living on $1 or $2 a day, where basic needs are met but just barely; and 3) relative poverty, as defined by income below a certain level of the national average.
I will focus on a group of urban people who retired due to the age reason and stay in the 4-2-1
family structure.
The characteristic of the aim population (retired, old people who live in the cities) as follows: 1) They
are old, retired people who live in the cities; 2) They are under the 4-2-1 family structure; 3) They do not have extra money except their pension; 4) Normally, each old person/couple has an apartment.
The problems which my target group faces right now are: 1) They are infirm, and need care. This is a
common problem of the 4-2-1 family structure; 2) Due to the limitation from their small pension, they can not afford to live in the nursing home with the better conditions.
graph 1. 1950 China was a developing country, with high birth rates and a life expectancy of about 44 years.
graph 2. 1980 China's one-child policy was introduced in 1979. Exemptions are allowed, eg. couples who had a girl first, families in rural areas, etc.
graph 3. 2010
When children of the one-child generation reach their 30s or 40s, there is a good chance their parents and grandparents will be alive and need some form of care.
In China, long-term urban residents with formal sector employment can expect to receive a pension
upon retirement, but face mandatory retirement at a relatively young age. Where urban employed men confront mandatory retirement at age 60, women in blue collar occupations are frequently required to retire at age 50, those in white collar occupations at age 55, with women in some categories (e.g., university professors) able to work until age 60. Among current retirement-age residents of urban areas, a large share is receiving relatively generous pension support. By contrast, rural elderly, who had lower incomes during their working lives and less accumulated wealth than their urban counterparts (Kanbur and Zhang, 1999; Ravallion and Chen, 2007), do not typically have pension income. According to the 2005 1% population sample, 45.4% of urban residents over age 60 report pension income as their most important source of financial support. (Giles, Wang, and Cai, 2012).
Older people in China have traditionally been taken care of by their children. Nursing homes for the
elderly are still an alien idea in much of Asia. Those that enter nursing homes often feel as if they are being sent away and rejected. Traditionally, grown children took care of their parents when they became old. Three in ten Chinese families have grandparents living in the same household. Things are changing quickly. The one-child generation is more likely to be spoiled and self-centered. As adults, children of this generation lack the inclination to support their parents. In 2006, 42 percent of Chinese families consisted of an old couple living alone. In a survey in 2002, half of the elderly respondents said they preferred to live alone rather than with their children. The finding dispelled the concept that most elderly Chinese want to be taken care of by their children. (Giles, Wang, and Cai, 2012)
Background data: The standard of the apartment which the old people already have is two-bedroom
in the area of about 90 square meters. Government preferential policies are including relief for the business tax for the real estate property transaction, monthly (?) rental, and relief for the project start-up capital. This program can be tentatively called - Housing Endowment Plan. Normally in China, the cost of changing an apartment in to two sets is about 60,000 yuan RMB; 5) In urban area, the rent
of a 90 square meters apartment is about 5000 yuan RMB monthly; 6) 100 yuan RMB = 16 USD dollar (approximately equal).
Saving for retirement is especially difficult for workers with small salaries. Many low-income workers
don't have access to a retirement account at work and simply have less money to build a nest egg after paying their monthly bills. I propose some strategies to help retire people who are on the low-income situation save for the future on a small wage.
Boundaries: People who do not meet the four characteristics of the target population are not
considered within the solution. And the target people who I researched live in Tiexi District, Shenyang City in Liaoning Province where nearly 70 million laid-off workers found that paying endowment insurance for them is a luxury.
(news.qq.com, 2012)
The housing and living conditions of target population who lived in Tiexi District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China.
The goal of these solutions is to use product design and health care design to help my target
population live in a more comfortable and economically secure environment.
Potential solutions
The potential solutions for retired old people who live in city must be effective, with low cost. And the resources must be easily available and sufficient.
The government introduced preferential policies: the establishment of specialized service agencies. Let retired old people who lived in their own community separately, and through voluntary, real
estate property transactions, concentrated them together in a relatively concentrated area.
Separate the apartment in to two parts. We could choose a suitable one for older people, and the
other one could be using to rent. The rent could be used to set up a dedicated fund. This dedicated fund for housing and environmental reform could be used to employ professional care and management, and purchase service facilities and equipment. I call this a Housing Endowment Plan.
Based on the housing and living conditions of retired, old people who live in the cities, below are my
three potential solutions. The first one (The existing housing and living conditions) is the existing system for serving need for comparison purposes. Solution 1 is the enhanced design concept which is compared to the existing housing and living conditions. Solution 2 is a product design which could help retired, old people who live in the cities walking outside easily and let them close to nature and other community residents instead of being restricted to their room.
economic implications
Because the sphere of activity for the old people is limited, they do not need too much area. Mean while the rent fee of a 40m2 apartment in Shenyang City approximately could be 2500 yuan RMB. So they can earn 2500 yuan RMB monthly which is approximately equal to the lower level salary in Shenyang City.
ecological implications
Considering that almost a half area of the apartment is unused and could be used more effectively.
economic implications
The material for the hand rail is antimicrobial nylon, and the material of lined portion support is NO.304 pure stainless steel. The cost of one meter antimicrobial nylon tube will be 90 yuan RMB (according to the orange line area of the whole length of the handrail facility the whole length of antimicrobial nylon tube will be ten meters)and one meter pure stainless steel tube material is about 140 yuan RMB. And the whole length of the steel tube is the length of the handrail, so it should be 19 meters. Because the handrail facility will only be installed in the orange line area (see the photo above), the install fee will not be more than 300 yuan RMB. The total cost of the handrail facility which was installed in a 75 m2 apartment might be approximately 3860 yuan RMB. Mean while the rent fee of a 40m apartment in Shenyang City approximately could be 2500 yuan RMB. So it means only two months rent will afford the rail installation cost.
2
ecological implications
The NO.304 pure stainless steel is hardness far more than zinc alloy, iron pipes, steel pipes, loading capacity of up to 400 pounds. The antimicrobial nylon contain special LGD antibacterial grain, and resistant to most of the harmful bacteria and reduce the spread of bacteria cross which could cause the disease to spread, considering that their still have restroom and kitchen which are public area, The structure of the handrail facility can be installed directly on the wall, it will take totally 4 screws for each handrail which could be easily separate apart for the future use or the second use.
economic implications
The material of walking stick is elm wood, which can be grown within a 300 km radius of the population. The 1 m elm wood cost 60 yuan RMB. And the machinery production plus handmade fee of that walking stick could be total 200 yuan RMB. And the elm wood is the local wood of Shenyang province. So the total cost of the stick will be about 300 yuan RMB.
2
ecological implications
Since the elm wood is the local wood of Shenyang province, so the manufacture of the wood may contributes to the local economy and save the cost of shipping fee. Also, according to the research of the area which were my target population lived, before they retired most of them are working for the mechanical operation or the worker in the factory. So it will be more effective and a win-win strategy that re-hire some of the worker from the Tiexi District community, and let them make their life better by making the stuff for their own and their neighbor.
Citations
1. John Giles, Dewen Wang, and Wei Cai, 2012, 6 The Labor Supply and Retirement Behavior of Chinas Older Workers and Elderly in Comparative Perspective, National Center for Biotechnology Information, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK109217/ 2. A. F. Newell, P. Gregor, 2002, Design for older and disabled people-where do we go from here?, Springer-Verlag, UK 3. William M. Rohe, Michael A. Stegman, 2007, The Effects of Homeownership: on the Self-Esteem, Perceived Control and Life Satisfaction of Low-Income People, Journal of the American Planning Association, USA 4. William M. Rohe, Michael A. Stegman, 1994, The Impact of Home Ownership on the Social and Political Involvement of Low-Income People, Urban Affairs Review, USA 5. Emil Smith, Robert Coe, Alexander Tseng and Joyce Kallgren, 1974, Walking on Two Legs: A Panel Discussion of Science Policy in the People's Republic of China, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, USA 6. P. Wanklyn, 1996, Homes and Housing For Elderly People, BMJ: British Medical Journal, UK