Creating age-friendly cities - Philippa Lynch

As the number of older people living in cities increases, there is growing recognition that cities need to become 'age-friendly' to help people remain independent and active as they age. This briefing, Creating age-friendly cities, from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) examines how housing, outdoor spaces and transport can be made more age-friendly.

Key points in this POSTnote include:

• The UK population is ageing and many older people are living in major towns and cities.
• Age-friendly cities aim to support active and healthy living into older age. Twelve cities in the UK are members of a global network of age-friendly cities.
• The physical environment plays a key role in making cities better places for older people. Research shows that accessibility and safety are important factors in making housing, outdoor spaces and transport more age-friendly.
• There is a lack of robust evidence about the effectiveness of proposed interventions.
• Challenges for delivering age-friendly cities include negative public attitudes towards older people, infrastructure costs and a lack of skills and coordination in local planning.