Policy implications surrounding technology for age-friendly cities and communities

Age-friendly cities and communities (AFCC) is an area of contemporary action and research since the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed its age-friendly cities and communities (AFCC) topic areas (Figure 1) 19years ago (2007). The AFCC movement is not a 21 st century phenomenon (van Hoof et al.; 2025c, Ch12; 2025b), aiming to act as a framework for local community entities to be inclusive of older adults, to remain independent in their community (World Health Organization, 2007a). However, since 2019, there has been a growth of alternative conceptual frameworks (Marston et al., 2020; Marston & van Hoof, 2019), focusing on the relationship between the built environment, including the home physical space, technologies, sustainability, and accessibility, underpinned by ecological (Marston et al., 2020) and life course theories (Marston & van Hoof, 2019). The purpose of this paper focuses on bridging the interconnections of technology, digital literacy, citizens, and their role situated within the AFCC arena.