Synonyms
Definition
A variety of definitions of what constitutes an “age-friendly” (or elder-friendly) community have been proposed over the past decade. Common to all definitions is that factors that span the physical and social environment impact older adults’ lives and are important to consider (Lui et al. 2009). In recent years, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) conceptualization of an age-friendly community has been gaining increasing traction among both policy makers and researchers. According to the WHO, an age-friendly community is one in which “policies, services, settings and structures support and enable people to age actively” (World Health Organization 2007a), with the notion of “active aging” broadly defined in terms of health, participation, and security (World Health Organization 2002). Fundamental to the notion of age-friendly communities is that older adults must be respected, valued for their contributions, and included in decisions...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
ALFA (2009) 2008 largest senior living provider. ALFA seniors’ living executive. March/April
Annear, M., Keeling, S., Wilkinson, T., Cushman, G., Gidlow, B., & Hopkins, H. (2014). Environmental influences on healthy and active ageing: A systematic review. Ageing and Society, 34, 590–622.
Bloom, D. E., Chatterji, S., Kowal, P., Lloyd-Sherlock, P., McKee, M., Rechel, B., Rosenberg, L., & Smith, J. P. (2014). Macroeconomic implications of population ageing and selected policy responses. Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61464-1.
Chappell, N., & Hollander, M. J. (2011). An evidence-based policy prescription for an aging population. HealthcarePapers, 11, 8–18.
Draper, R., Curtice, L., & Gormans, M. (1993). WHO healthy cities project: Review of the first 5 years (1987–1992). A working tool and a reference framework for evaluating the project. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Evans, R. G., & Stoddart, G. L. (1990). Producing health, consuming health care. Social Science and Medicine, 31, 1347–1363.
Insight: Current demographics and trends in seniors’ housing. 3rd Canadian Seniors’ Housing Forum. March (2010)
Kaczynski, A., & Sharratt, M. T. (2010). Deconstructing Williamsburg: Using focus groups to examine residents’ perceptions of the building of a walkable community. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 7, 1–12.
Lui, C. W., Everingham, J. A., Warburton, J., Cuthill, M., & Bartlett, H. (2009). What makes a community age-friendly: A review of the international literature. Australas J Ageing, 28, 116–121.
Menec, V. H., Novek, S., Veselyuk, D., & McArthur, J. (2013). Lessons learned from a Canadian, province-wide age-friendly initiative: The age-friendly Manitoba initiative. J Aging Soc Policy. doi:10.1080/08959420.2014.854606.
Plouffe, L. A., & Kalache, A. (2011). Making communities age friendly: State and municipal initiatives in Canada and other countries. Gac Sanit, 25(Suppl 2), 131–137.
Plouffe, L. A., Garon, S., Brownoff, J., Foucault, M.-L., Lawrence, R., Beaupré, J.-P., & Toews, V. (2013). Advancing age-friendly communities in Canada. Canadian Review of Social Policy, 68(69), 24–38.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2015). How can Canadian communities become more age-friendly? http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/seniors-aines/afc-caa-eng.php
Saelens, B. E., & Handy, S. L. (2008). Built environment correlates of walking: A review. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 40, S550–S566.
Thomas, W. (1994). The Eden alternative: Nature, hope and nursing homes. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
World Health Organization. (2002). Active aging: A policy framework. Second United Nations world assembly on ageing. Madrid: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2007a). Global age-friendly cities: A guide. Geneva: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2007b). Checklist of essential features of age-friendly cities. Geneva: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2011). Global health and aging. NIH, (n.p).
World Health Organization Centre for Health Development. (2014). Measuring the age-friendliness of cities: A guide to using core indicators. Kobe: World Health Organization Centre for Health Development.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this entry
Cite this entry
Menec, V.H., Sharratt, M. (2015). Age-Friendly Communities. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_160-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_160-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences