Qualitative Evaluation of the Potentials of Mashhad To become an Age-Friendly City

Abstract

Aging is a normal part of all humans’ life, but is often associated with negative attitudes. Generally people have no desire to step into this period of life. The objective of this paper is to investigate the potentials of Mashhad as the second religious metropolis of Iran to have become an age-friendly city. The research method is qualitative, so 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with urban managers using snowball sampling technique-saturation method. In this regard, to review the current situation and the measures taken in Mashhad, challenges and solutions, the interviewer has used the results of theoretical foundations. And each question was in line with World Health Organization indicators. Interviews were conducted with managers and urban planning custodians in transportation and traffic organization, bus-taxi transportation organization, cultural-recreational organization, parks and green spaces organization of Mashhad municipality and welfare office of Khorasan Razavi. Data were analyzed using theme analysis. In this method code analysis is done based on similar topics. Results showed that most urban managers in all sections except transportation and health services have had the maximum satisfaction with their performance and have evaluated the current status of Mashhad conductive and favorable. And also what the elderly after retirement need more than anything is mental relaxation which is rooted in safety and ease of traffic and standard transport. Finally, solutions in order to improve the overall status of Mashhad are presented.