According to the US Census Bureau, the US population aged 65+ years is expected to nearly double over the next 30 years, from 43.1 million in 2012 to an estimated 83.7 million in 2050. These demographic advances, however extraordinary, have left our health systems behind as they struggle to reliably provide evidence-based practice to every older adult at every care interaction. Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), in partnership with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), designed Age-Friendly Health Systems to meet this challenge head on. Age-Friendly Health Systems aim to: Follow an essential set of evidence-based practices; Cause no harm; and Align with What Matters to the older adult and their family caregivers.

This important book provides a comprehensive survey of different strategies for developing age-friendly communities, and the extent to which older people themselves can be involved in the co-production of age-friendly policies and practices.

A context of aging populations and urbanization has sparked a global movement to make urban spaces age-friendly. The Age-Friendly City program, developed by the World Health Organization, aims to improve local environments for all population groups, promote a positive aging identity, and empower local policy actors to support senior citizens. Despite growing enthusiasm and policy work by local governments worldwide, considerable gaps remain. These lacunae have led scholars and activists alike to align age-friendly city work with the concept of the right to the city. In The Right to an Age-Friendly City Meghan Joy zeroes in on the intricacies of developing an environment that promotes social and spatial justice for the elderly in Toronto. Weaving together the stories, struggles, and victories of local activists, government staff, and frontline service providers, Joy maps this complex policy area and examines the ways in which age-friendly work successfully enhances senior citizens' access to services and support in the local environment, recognizes the diverse needs of senior citizens in the city, and empowers policy actors from local government and the non-profit sector to support senior citizens. A detailed and timely examination, The Right to an Age-Friendly City offers both broad and tangible insights into the intermingled political, economic, cultural, and administrative changes needed to protect the rights of senior citizens to access urban space in Toronto and beyond.

As the drive towards creating age-friendly cities grows, this important book provides a comprehensive survey of theories and policies aimed at improving the quality of life of older people living in urban areas. In this book, part of the Ageing in a Global Context series, leading international researchers critically assess the problems and the potential of designing age-friendly environments. The book considers the different ways in which cities are responding to population ageing, the different strategies for developing age-friendly communities, and the extent to which older people themselves can be involved in the co-production of age-friendly policies and practices. The book includes a manifesto for the age-friendly movement, focused around tackling social inequality and promoting community empowerment.

Age Friendly: Ending Ageism in America is a rallying call to make the United States a more equitable and just nation in terms of age. "Age friendliness" means being inclusive towards older people as workers, consumers, and citizens, something that can’t be said to exist today. The United States and, especially, Big Business, are notoriously age-unfriendly places, a result of our obsession with youth. Virtually all aspects of everyday life in America will be impacted by the doubling or tripling of the number of older people over the next two decades, more reason to adopt age friendliness as a cause. Age Friendly shows how large companies are in an ideal position to address the aging of America and, in the process, benefit from making their organizations more age friendly. Because of its economic power and commitment to diversity in the workplace, Big Business—specifically the Fortune 1000—has the opportunity and responsibility to take a leadership role in changing the narrative of aging in America. The book shows that age friendliness offers the possibility of bridging gaps not just between younger and older people, but those based on income, class, race, gender, politics, and geography. More than anything else, Age Friendly presents a bold and counterintuitive idea—aging is a positive thing for businesses, individuals, and society as a whole—and we should embrace it rather than fear it. While ageism is a pervasive force in America that, like racism and gender discrimination, runs contrary to our democratic ideals, there is some good news. An age friendly movement is spreading in America and around the world as a growing number of cities and towns strive to better meet the needs of their older residents. Aa well, a concerted effort is being made to convince Big Business that an intergenerational workforce is in the best interests of not just older employees but the companies themselves. Age brings experience, perspective, and wisdom—just the right skill set for both short- and long-term decision-making. The aging of America also presents major implications for businesses in terms of marketing to older consumers. Baby boomers are still the key to the economy despite marketers’ focus on youth, much in part to their collective wealth and propensity to consume. Age friendly marketing thus makes much sense due to "the longevity economy," i.e., the billions of dollars that older consumers spend each year and the goldmine that looms in the future as they become an even bigger percentage of the population. Finally, Age Friendly discusses how more corporations are pursuing social responsibility in addition to maximizing profits—an ideal opportunity for corporations to demonstrate good citizenship by supporting age friendliness on a local, state, or national level.

Rapid urbanization and aging in many countries including the People’s Republic of China, along with lessons learned from the coronavirus disease pandemic, emphasize the urgent need to make cities healthier and more accessible for the elderly. This report offers an operational framework to turn the challenges of an emerging four-generation urban society into opportunities. Health impact assessments as well as healthy and age-friendly city action and management plans are proposed as holistic tools to create positive health outcomes and improve urban livability, services, and public spaces. Integrated with urban planning, these practical tools will help make cleaner, healthier, and safer cities that are more pleasant and competitive for people, business and economic development.

This book brings together recent scholarly work concerned with efforts around the world to transform cities so that they are more age-friendly. Common to all of the initiatives is recognition of the importance of the community environment for the well-being of the rapidly growing numbers of older people. The collection includes chapters that examine the circumstances in which communities currently undertake significant age-friendly initiatives, public-private collaboration in age-friendly initiatives, collaboration across institutional sectors in age-friendly initiatives, policies that facilitate age-friendly developments, and the bases upon which age-friendly initiatives should be evaluated. It will be of interest to scholars in various fields including urban planning, gerontology, transportation planning, environmental design, and adult education.