Designing for Successful Wayfinding in Later Life: A Review of Spatial Layout, Visual Cues, and Visuospatial Memory

Wayfinding involves perceiving spatial information, remembering routes, and making navigation decisions. In later life, changes in visual perception, spatial memory, and navigation strategies may make unfamiliar environments more challenging. However, environmental characteristics also influence wayfinding performance. This chapter reviews research on ageing, spatial cognition, and environmental design, examining relationships between cognitive changes, environmental characteristics, and wayfinding, with implications for interior architectural design. It explores cognitive maps, visuospatial working memory, egocentric and allocentric representations, and map-based and navigation-based learning. It also considers how spatial configuration, visual access, environmental geometry, landmarks, colour, and contrast affect orientation. The literature indicates that wayfinding difficulties arise not only from age-related cognitive changes but also from the legibility and organization of the built environment. Based on these findings, the chapter proposes an integrated framework connecting spatial structure, environmental cues, cognitive representation, and individual characteristics. It concludes with design recommendations emphasizing legible spatial organization, distinctive environmental cues, visual accessibility, and consistent spatial information to support older adults’ orientation and independent navigation.