PRESIDENTIAL SYMPOSIUM: AGE-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENTS: CRITICAL DISCUSSIONS ON PRESENT PRACTICES AND FUTURE PATHWAYS

Abstract

AbstractAge-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) and Age-Friendly Environments (AFE) initiatives and practices offer significant potential for improving social inclusion, health and wellbeing of older people worldwide. With the support of the World Health Organization, they present an experimental landscape for municipalities to adapt physical and social environments and a platform for researchers to discuss age friendliness.A. Scharlach presents the complexities and controversies regarding the concept of age friendliness and its implications, including potential benefits and limitations of an emphasis on individual health and functional ability, as embodied in WHO’s 2015 World Report on Ageing and Health as opposed to social inclusion and community well-being.AFCC and AFE initiatives have expanded worldwide. However, little is known about their effects, their embeddedness in existing policies and their sustainability, or how best to adapt to local needs. Meeting these challenges, S. Garon and colleagues present data from Quebec and use three theories of evaluation (experimental, logic model, participatory) adapted to distinct variable contexts. At a global level, A. Ross similarly exposes the need to critically consider such contexts as a key factor in adapting a global WHO monitoring framework and core indicators to measuring age-friendliness of places. With a focus on dementia, S. Biggs and I. Haapala offer a complementary view on the competing narratives at stake within age friendliness in Australia.In conclusion, T. Moulaert uses comparative material from Quebec, France and Belgium to advocate for the need for theory to understand local mediations and how they are embedded in shared values, language and interests.