The age-friendly community movement is a global phenomenon, currently growing with the support of the WHO and multiple international and national organizations in the field of aging. Drawing on an extensive collection of international case studies, this volume provides an introduction to the movement. The contributors – both researchers and practitioners – touch on a number of current tensions and issues in the movement and offer a wide-ranging set of recommendations for advancing age-friendly community development. The book concludes with a call for a radical transformation of a medical and lifestyle model of aging into a relational model of health and social/individual wellbeing.

The age-friendly community movement is a global phenomenon, currently growing with the support of the WHO and multiple international and national organizations in the field of aging. Drawing on an extensive collection of international case studies, this volume provides an introduction to the movement. The contributors – both researchers and practitioners – touch on a number of current tensions and issues in the movement and offer a wide-ranging set of recommendations for advancing age-friendly community development. The book concludes with a call for a radical transformation of a medical and lifestyle model of aging into a relational model of health and social/individual wellbeing.

List of Illustrations and Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Preface

Introduction: Theorizing and Practicing Age-friendly Development
Philip B. Stafford

PART I: EQUITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Chapter 1. Creating Age-friendly Communities in Urban Environments: Research Issues and Policy Recommendations
Tine Buffel and Chris Phillipson

Chapter 2. Training Advocates to Undertake Livable Community Initiatives: A Pilot Program
Sharon A. Baggett

Chapter 3. Public Places, Community, and the Physical and Mental Health of Children and Elders
Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard

Chapter 4. The Intersection between Sustainable and Age-friendly Development
Alan DeLaTorre

PART II: AGE-FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOODS

Chapter 5. Accessibility, Participation, Networking: The Impact of a Local Network on the Environment and the Life Relationship of Older People
Birgit Wolter

Chapter 6. Assessing the Aging-Friendliness of Two New York City Neighborhoods: A Case Study
Mia R. Oberlink and Barbara S. Davis

PART III: COLLABORATION ACROSS GENERATIONS

Chapter 7. Communities for All Ages:  Reinforcing and Reimagining the Social Compact
Corita Brown and Nancy Henkin

Chapter 8. Ibasho Café: Giving Elders a Role to Play in Making Communities More Resilient
Emi Kiyota

Chapter 9. Youth and Older Persons as Agents for Change: Creating an Inclusive and Age-Friendly Society for All
Arthur Namara and Kristin Bodiford

PART IV: RURAL AGING

Chapter 10. Retrofitting Small Towns: How Aging in Place Could Transform Rural America
Zachary Benedict

Chapter 11. Creating an Age-Friendly Community in a Depopulated Town in Japan: A Search for Resilient Ways to Cherish New Commons as Local Cultural Resources
Nanami Suzuki

PART V: BEING WELL ENOUGH IN OLD AGE

Chapter 12. Relational Well-Being and Age-Friendly Cities
Marian Barnes

Index