Age-Friendliness as a Framework for Equity in Aging

Place performs a powerful role in shaping experiences of aging. Aims of the age-friendly movement have changed dramatically since the inception of the Global Age-friendly Cities Project in 2006, and the aging demographic has simultaneously become more diverse and complex. Growing economic disparities, climate crises, and the global pandemic have amplified challenges to aging well across the lifespan. This chapter provides an overview of the age-friendly movement both internationally and within the United States. It examines how the concept of age-friendliness has grown into a framework that guides placemaking in a variety of settings and calls attention to contemporary criticism of the movement related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The chapter examines the intersectional nature of the social, economic, and environmental challenges tied to aging and considers age-friendliness as an ecological framework with a unique capacity to address historic barriers in new, significant ways. The chapter locates the age-friendly movement in the context of the widening of socioeconomic and health disparities and presents a case of need to refocus the lenses of equity and participation in order to expand health and social justice in the design of places.