Viewpoints of Older People Toward the Features of Age-Friendly Communities: Map for Charting Progress in Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Abstract The number of older people living in urban environments is growing dramatically. Adhering to a set of standards is essential to achieve a desirable living setting. In order to assess strengths and deficiencies, older people described how the checklist of essential features of age-friendly cities matches their own experiences. The descriptive study was conducted with the participation of 384 older people from Tabriz, Iran, who were selected randomly, from all over the city. The degree of conformity of city characteristics was described with the standards with a score of 0–100. The mean age of participants was 68.2 ± 0.35 years. More than half of the respondents (56.5%) were men and approximately one-third of the participants were illiterate and 80% were married respectively. The most satisfying dimension was the outdoor spaces and buildings (32.06 ± 11.94) and the least one was the communication and information (9 ± 0.27). Fragmented systems and services were a general challenge. Inadequate coordination between the public service organizations and consumers prevented the area’s wealth of resources from reaching their full potential.