Improved quality in technological and medical services have resulted in an increase in the number of elderly people within the average population. Concordantly , the demands and desires of the elderly population have gained significance. Standards that consider elderly people’s needs in their living environments have become one of the primary topics of discussion. Today, behind the global-scale transformation of the concept of old age and perception towards elderly people lies modernism (including industrialization), economic growth and rapid urbanisation. Consequently, the shift in values of judgement, social norms and behavioural models are pushing the elderly to a life of solitude within urban environments. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that the urban elderly individual living alone, particularly in metropolitan cities due to the rapidly increasing global elderly population and changing lifestyles, can participate in urban life. Changing physical and social needs of elderly people in cities have forced reconsideration of urban design and organization of cities from a strategic planning approach. Consequently, to achieve sustainability of such reorganizations, issues such as accurate and effective design of public open spaces and accessibility are very important. Based on the fact that, the life-sustaining conditions permitting, everyone will eventually become elderly, this study focuses on the effect urban outdoor design standards have on urban elderly populations’ participation in urban space in two cities with different spatial standards: Istanbul and Vienna. Locations with similar features were chosen in both cities to analyse demographic variation, physical adequacy and means of transportation / accessibility. 60 elderly people living in the locality were chosen to conduct interviews aiming at comparing the physiological condition, reason and frequency for going outside, difficulties encountered outdoors and the extent of satisfaction regarding home / outdoor accessibility. Based on spatial analysis and questionnaire survey the study compares outdoor standards and user satisfaction of both cities to infer on both ageing and design. Taking a closer look at current legislation concerning accessibility of public open space in Europe and Turkey it is evident that Turkey is considerably late regarding the issue. “Baordnung”, the mandatory structural regulation in effect in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is especially effective. Whereas initiatives in Turkey have not gone much further than defining standards and making certain minor modifications. Let alone accessibility for the elderly, studies focusing on universal design standards are equally as rare. In this context this study could be considered as an investigation into raising awareness about the elderly in Turkey that provides guidance in future urban design initiatives. Considering findings from the study, Turkey has to take steps towards restructuring the social security system, taking necessary economic measures, improving level of education and undertaking work to increase the functionality of facilities like old people’s homes and nursing homes on a national level in order to prevent suffering of the elderly whose numbers will rise inevitably in the future. It is also very important to design multi-functional public spaces allowing mixed use, develop pedestrian oriented urban design projects and consider all age groups in the transportation plans on a city scale. On the other hand, taking a closer look at elderly policies and related urban design solutions in other countries will contribute to developing effective solutions to problems of the elderly in Turkey through a different perspective. There is a particular need to reconsider ways of increasing the quality of public open space, transportation planning, reviewing function and site selection to ultimately develop a form of urban design that can successfully integrate these factors.