The difference between how people cope with ageing and how they are treated by society in Taiwan and the UK is the subject of a major study currently being undertaken by a team from Lab4Living, an exciting collaboration between the art and design and health and social care research centres at Sheffield Hallam University.

Lab4Living has teamed up with a partner organisation in Taiwan to look at the cultural differences between east and west, and to identify ways in which good practice from one culture could be adopted by the other.

A group from Taiwan has already spent three months in Sheffield and now Lab4Living head Professor Paul Chamberlain, and two of his colleagues, are preparing for the return journey.

'This will be a great opportunity for us as our partner organisation is not only strong in design and engineering but also has firm links with the local teaching hospital - a combination which really reflects our philosophy of finding creative ways of developing future living environments in which people of all ages and abilities can live with dignity, independence and fulfilment.

'One of the hospital benefactors has funded the development of a 'silver village' - a mini city with about 1,500 apartments and lots of technology aimed at making life easier for the elderly who live there - and that's where we'll be staying for the duration of our visit.'

This will be Paul's second visit to Taiwan, and he has already discovered some of the challenges the country is facing as changing socio-economic circumstances mean that traditional ways of caring for the elderly are under threat.

'The key issue for Taiwan - and other countries such as China - is that the low birth rates mean that there will not be enough young people to maintain the tradition of adult children looking after elderly parents. Increased westernisation, with more young people leaving home and travelling, has also brought changes to the way people live.'

The 'silver village' is one response to that change but, according to Paul, it has not been without its problems.

'Although the village has all the latest technology to help improve practical aspects of life for the older people who live there, many of the residents find it socially isolating, as there are no young people or children around. What we're hoping to do on this visit is get a real insight into how people feel and to see how the positive aspects of the way we approach things in both countries can be brought together to create better environments for the elderly in the future.'

In another major project, Lab4Living has recruited around 100 local volunteers to take an active part in 'Future Bathroom' - an initiative the team are currently working on with UK partner Ideal Standard.

'User involvement is crucial to our work and we have close links with The University of the Third Age (U3A), Sheffield 50+, Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity (SPARC) network, Age Concern, Agewell Sheffield and Sheffield Elders Congress, regional hospitals, special needs centres and commercial companies with an interest in this field,' said Paul.

'At present, we have a team of older people who are acting as community researchers to capture the views of other older people about the challenges they face. The critical point is that we are designing with older people, not for them. Many elderly people feel rejected and ignored by a society which emphasises the young, but they have so much experience and valuable contributions to make, and we've been delighted by the fantastic response we've had from people wanting to get involved and make a difference.'

The original concept of Lab4Living was created by Professor Gail Mountain, of Sheffield Hallam's Centre for Health and Social Research and Professor Paul Chamberlain, of the University's Art and Design Research Centre, when they recognised the links between their respective areas of research.

Lab4Living also have an actual laboratory, which was opened earlier this year, and is a state of the art experimental space where it is possible to conduct both qualitative and quantitative studies of human behaviour and to understand individuals' interactions with the built environment.

'The advantage of this is that it allows us to create and re-create a range of different scenarios and to observe in detail how people respond to these environments. This can range from full rooms scales such as living rooms, bathrooms, office space, supermarket isles, down to individual items of packaging and small products. Developing a greater understanding of how people interact with these spaces leads to better design of products, packaging and process solutions in using everyday objects in the home.

'Although much of our work to date has focused on using design to improve things for the elderly, our overall mission is to develop and understand how design can impact on health and wellbeing for everyone. We believe that the happier and more comfortable people are, the more likely they are to stay well, and the way we use design to enhance people's lives, whatever their age or situation, can have a major impact,' said Paul.