Art and design for sustainable cultural income generation: a socio-ecological framework for creative economic empowerment in Malaysian senior citizen centres

Senior citizen centres in Malaysia are increasingly exposed to financial vulnerability due to demographic transitions and continued dependence on welfare-based funding structures. Despite possessing extensive cultural knowledge, artisanal expertise, and intangible heritage assets, these institutions rarely operationalise art and design as structured economic systems. This study addresses this theoretical gap by proposing a design led socio ecological framework that reconceptualises senior citizen centres as creative ecosystems capable of generating sustainable income. Grounded in the integration of the Triple Bottom Line and the Socio Ecological Model, the framework positions art and design as socio economic infrastructure embedded within multi-level sustainability systems. Five interrelated dimensions namely social engagement, economic growth, environmental sustainability, operational capacity and technology integration are theorised as key drivers of financial resilience and cultural sustainability. By reframing aging communities from welfare recipients to active cultural producers, this conceptual model advances Art and Design scholarship beyond aesthetic discourse toward systemic economic empowerment. The framework offers a foundation for future empirical validation and practical implementation within community based cultural enterprises.