Is your city planned for all citizens as they age? Selecting the indicators to measure neighbourhoods’ age-friendliness in the urban planning field

Abstract

In many countries, urban population ageing trends are a recognized policy issue that requires a multidisciplinary approach. Although some fields, such as urban planning, encounter challenges in incorporating age-friendliness, they are crucial in enhancing the quality of life and well-being of all urban inhabitants. Additionally, they should provide solutions on how cities can cater to the needs of a population that is living longer than ever before. To accomplish this, older people’s needs can be translated into multidomain indicators to be adopted when planning the cities. Using the World Health Organization’s age-friendly cities indicators framework as a basis, the objective of this research is to establish a new indicators framework for urban planners and policymakers. With this aim, within the H2020 URBANAGE project, various cities have followed a process to adapt the WHO´s general framework to their specific needs and interests, through research, iteration with the cities and co-creation methodologies with older people and civil servants. This process has resulted in the definition of an indicators framework, which aims to evaluate the age-friendliness of various neighbourhoods within a city. It also intends to inform the development of decision-support technologies to achieve age-friendly cities in the different cities involved.