The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that 1 in 6 people will be aged 60 years or over by 2030. This rapidly expanding demographic challenges the existing structures, social norms, and relationships within communities. In many societies, aging is conceptualised as a process of growing disability, dependency, and decline. Even as seniors today are healthier and more educated than ever before, current eldercare systems treat them as passive recipients of care and not participants or contributors. Such social marginalisation puts older persons at increased risk from illness, while increasing costs to families and society for their care.

Our study aims to investigate the implementation of Ibasho, a community model from Japan that allows elder residents to lead projects and participate in larger social networks within their local community. This community-based participatory research will look at efficacies of the elder-led social integration model in its first urban testbed, Singapore, and evaluate its impact on participants' psychosocial health.