SHANGHAI - A senior architect called for strenuous efforts on Sunday to establish a community courtyard-style retirement system in China to really meet seniors' needs.

"The system, which provides community courtyards for senior people to live, will challenge traditional nursing houses," said Andy Wen, executive director of Aedas Beijing Ltd.

Wen made the remarks at the international summit forum on property development and design for senior habitation, which was concluded in Shanghai on Sunday with architects, scholars and real estate developers from the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea and China in attendance.

The forum aimed to seek ways to build comfortable retirement communities for senior people to spend their later years in a healthier, more enjoyable and harmonious way, said Lu Wei, chairman of China Environment-Behavior Research Association.

Wen said the current practice of putting senior people into nursing homes without any attempt to create a harmonious habitation environment is no longer suitable.

Wen's concept is to apply the university model to his courtyard-style retirement communities, to which elements of resorts and villages are added.

The courtyards would provide various facilities and services to meet elders' needs, including clinics, small libraries, canteens and outdoor playgrounds, he said.

These courtyards, independent but clustered together, would also have access to the facilities and services provided to the whole community, such as healthcare centers and retail shops, he added.

China has a growing elder population, with senior people accounting for 13 per cent of its total population in 2011. The proportion of aged people in China's society is expected to increase, climbing to 30 per cent by 2020, said Zhou Bo, professor from Dalian University of Technology.

"By 2050, its seniors are estimated at more than 400 million," Zhou said.

He told the forum that at the moment only three percent of elderly people in China are able to enjoy services provided by various kinds of nursing houses and elderly institutions, much lower than the average level of six percent in developed countries.

Insiders said the community courtyard-style retirement system should be an orientation for China to move towards.

Wen cited a case study for his design for a project in Yingkou, Liaoning province to illustrate his new concept at the forum. The project is expected to cost more than 1 billion yuan in investment and will construct 380,000 square meters of buildings for more than 4,000 households.

Wen said the project consists of apartment clusters and townhouse clusters, each residential cluster having 250 units with a multi-function hall for 150 people, a 35-person spa room, a duty office, a computer control center, a clinic and an outdoor playground.

Each cluster has a clubhouse on the ground floor containing a thermal spring, canteen, public living room, library and clinic, he said.

Landscaping in the cluster includes a green house, a seats plaza, a sports plaza and a tree plaza, creating a colorful outdoor space for seniors. The southern side of the community consists of a five-star hotel and a hot spring club house to form a healthy recreational plaza, while its northern corner houses a care-taking center that promotes the concept of "lifetime pension."

Local insiders said this model will change the current retirement community practice of not providing a favorable habitable environment or facilities that elders require to make their lives easier.