Age-Friendly Futures: Equity by Design

Campuses, neighborhoods, and health environments play significant roles in shaping the landscapes of aging. The design of physical places is one part of that process, yet the larger task of understanding and defining problems presents a greater opportunity for a radical transformation. Design begins by asking questions, and a number of questions arise when examining the interrelationship between aging, design, and health. How can age-friendly communities be designed to promote healthy, equitable, and productive aging, and be accessible for all, and not just the privileged few? How do the dynamics of age-friendly places relate to each other in the physical environment and the social realm? What strategies are at play to measure the impact of age-friendly places, both in individual locations and across larger ecosystems? Interdisciplinary work is needed to examine the diversity of contemporary challenges to aging well and to cocreate new knowledge and initiatives with older adults. Discourse and data are needed to create pathways for measuring the impact of age-friendly initiatives, and for charting new frontiers. This chapter explores the intersections between place types, and the synergies between participatory design strategies. It outlines leaks in the pipeline, and concludes with opportunities to further leverage design strategies and practices between disciplines to create equity by design and promote age-friendly futures.