Abstract
Purpose: Korean society has already entered an aged society but there aren't many evidence-based studies on the elderly-friendly design elements in the apartment environment, which is the main residential type in Korea. The main purpose of this study is to verify the necessity and expandability of the outdoor environment design in the public rental apartment complex through the evaluation of the effectiveness and satisfaction of SMG(Seoul Metropolitan Government) Cognitive Health Design Project in GR 1 apartment complex. Methods: The research subjects were GR 1-complex as experimental group and the nearby Wolgye Deer 1-complex as control group, both public rental apartment and located in Seoul. As a research method, the survey was conducted before and after the implementation of SMG project for residents of the apartment. A total of 200 preliminary surveys and 203 post surveys were conducted. Results: As a result of this study, residents' accidents related safety have decreased, and both the frequency of use and satisfaction of most facilities have increased. It is noteworthy that the increase in cognitive items in the post-survey. Also, 74.5% of the residents evaluated that the complex was better to live after the project was implement. Implications: The fact that the preliminary surveys were not conducted for the same person is considered as the limitation of the study, but it is meaningful in that it systematically assesses the effectiveness of the project on the cognitive health of the outdoor residential environment towards age-friendly city.