Making a Home in the City: The Age-Friendly Community Movement

A recent Public Policy & Aging Report (PP&AR, Volume 25 Issue 1 Winter 2015) explicitly addresses the issue of aging-friendly communities. The issue “Making a Home in the City: The Age-Friendly Community Movement” includes seven articles illustrating that developing cities meeting the interests of all generations should be an important goal for economic and social policy.  At the above link you can find the articles in full text or choose to read an extract.

They are:

Introduction: Making a Home in the City: The Age-Friendly Community Movement by Robert B. Hudson

A review of the entire issue is in this paragraph from the extract of the introductory article:

This issue of Public Policy & Aging Report brings together analysts and activists who have struggled with how to promote ideas and initiatives to enhance the well-being of urban elders. The opening articles address the evolution of the AFC movement and the ingredients central to understanding what, indeed, constitutes an AFC and what is critical to the movement’s continued expansion. A second set of contributions reviews the experience of four major AFC initiatives: the “villages” model; a service-rich “naturally occurring retirement community”; a public–private AFC undertaking; and a national organization’s “livability” programs. A concluding article sets forth a challenge to the AFC movement, to move beyond locally based initiatives and to engage policymakers at the state and federal levels to galvanize the movement. Together these conceptual and empirical pieces provide a thorough review of what forms AFCs may take, how they work on the ground, and what next steps that they might take.

Developing Age-Friendly Urban Communities: Critical Issues for Public Policy by Chris Phillipson

Emerging Models of Age-Friendly Communities: A Framework for Understanding Inclusion
by Judith G. Gonyea and Robert B. Hudson

(In this article the authors explore approaches being adopted by US communities to create a positive living environment for older residents.)

Sociopolitical and Cultural Contexts of Community-Based Models in Aging: The Village Initiative
authors: Joan K. Davitt, Amanda J. Lehning, Andrew Scharlach, and Emily A. Greenfield.

The Future of the NORC-Supportive Service Program Model by Fredda Vladeck and Anita Altman

From Planning to Implementation for an Age-Friendly Portland authors: Margaret B. Neal, Alan K. DeLaTorre, and Paula C. Carder

Increasing Community Livability for People of All Ages by Shannon Guzman and Rodney Harrell