Emerging Models of Age-Friendly Communities: A Framework for Understanding Inclusion

The rise of the age-friendly community (AFC) movement is a response to the challenges of global aging. As a matter of economic policy, the aging of world’s population has heightened concerns about the rising public costs of long-term care and led governments globally to promote programs which prevent or delay institutionalization and allow older adults to continue to live in the community. As a matter of social policy, it is by now well-established that mid- and life-late adults want to grow old in their own homes and, if that is not possible, at least in the same communities (AARP, 2010). Of equal import, world-wide urbanization is affecting the lives of older adults. Research underscores how cities’ current configurations negatively impact the health and well-being of residents and especially the vulnerabilities of seniors (Freudenberg, Galea, & Valhov, 2006). The intersection of these two trends, rapid population aging and urbanization, has combined to spur global interest in rendering cities more age friendly. It is from these trends and pressures that a robust AFC movement has emerged.