Age-Friendly Communities: Research on Promising and Innovative Practices

Age-friendly community (AFC) leaders engage with community residents, groups, and organizations to enhance social, service, and built environments for aging. Despite the growing number of AFCs, academic research remains in its nascence. During this symposium, U.S. scholars will present research on AFC implementation. The first two papers address promising practices among AFC leaders. The first paper presents results from a content analysis of American AFC progress reports. Results indicate strong evidence of progress achieved and opportunities for improving the evaluation, documentation, and dissemination of accomplishments. The second paper presents findings from a qualitative descriptive study on community events by AFC initiatives in northern New Jersey. Results indicate how age-friendly leaders use community events to enhance older adults’ social participation and inclusion, and as a tactic toward longer-term, multi-domain community change. The third and fourth papers describe the development and testing of innovative technologies to guide AFC implementation. The third paper provides an overview of Safe Routes to Age in Place, a community-engaged mixed methods study using the app MyAmble to examine the needs and utilization of alternative transportation in Franklin County, Ohio. The fourth paper provides a case overview of a university-community partnership to develop a geographical information system (GIS) analytical mapping tool to evaluate the age-friendliness of public amenities in San Antonio, Texas. The symposium will conclude with remarks from AARP Livable Communities leadership about how these studies contribute to building knowledge about AFC implementation and avenues for academic and private partnerships to translate these findings to practice.

From Livable Communities to Livable Metropolis: Challenges for Urban Mobility in Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Portugal)

Urban mobility plays an important role in addressing urban livability. The complexification and dispersion of travel due to the improvement of transport and the multiplication of our daily living places underline the relevance of multilevel territorial planning, recognizing that the knowledge of local differences is essential for more effective urban policies. This paper aims (1) to comprehend conceptually how urban mobility contributes to the urban livability from the local to metropolitan level and (2) to assess the previous relation toward a livable metropolis based on the readily available statistics for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Hence, a triangulation between conceptual, political/operative, and quantitative/monitoring approaches is required. The methodology follows four steps: (1) literature review focusing on the quantification of urban mobility within the urban livability approach; (2) data collection from the Portuguese statistics system; (3) data analysis and results, using principal component analysis (PCA) followed by cluster analysis (CA); (4) discussion and conclusions. In Portugal, although it is implicit, consistency is evident between the premises of recent urban mobility policies and respective planning instruments, such as the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), and the premises of urban livability as an urban movement. Focusing on the national statistics system, the available indicators that meet our quality criteria are scarce and represent a reduced number of domains. Even so, they allow identifying intra-metropolitan differences in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) that could support multilevel planning instruments. The results identified five principal components related to commuting at the local and intermunicipal level, including car use as well as social and environmental externalities, and they reorganized the 18 LMA municipalities into eight groups, clearly isolating Lisbon, the capital, from the others. The identification of sensitive territories and respective problems based on urban livability principles is fundamental for an effective urban planning from livable communities to livable metropolis.

Pathways to Livable Relocation Settlements Following Disaster

Mass relocation—the transfer of communities to new housing developments—is often implemented following disasters, despite criticism that past projects have not created livable communities for residents. Livable relocation communities are those where residents experience quality housing, utilities, social infrastructure, neighborliness, safety, and a sense of permanence. Numerous conditions may support livability, such as site location, community involvement, and processes of managing construction and beneficiary transfer. We evaluated relocation communities in Tacloban City, Philippines, applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis to identify pathways, or combinations of conditions, that led to built and societal livability. We found pathways to livability generally differed between government and non-government developed sites, with the former benefiting from a slower pace and standard permitting procedures, and the latter by building fast and using scale and need to prompt improved services. An unexpected combination emerged as a pathway to societal livability—being remote and comprised of households originally from a mix of different communities—revealing a new narrative for positive social outcomes in relocation. Three conditions emerged as necessary for achieving overall livability: fast construction, full occupancy, and close proximity to an economic and administrative center. This analysis demonstrates necessary conditions and pathways that implementing agencies can reference in their quest to create livable relocation communities.

IDENTIFYING SALIENT TRAINING AND SUPPORT NEEDS WITHIN A STATEWIDE LIFELONG COMMUNITIES NETWORK

As the older adult population grows in the United States, the need for community planning approaches that respond to the needs of older adults is of increasing importance. As a result, lifelong community movements, encompassing models such as Age-Friendly Communities, Livable Communities, and “Aging-in-Place” initiatives are proliferating. Maine, the oldest state by median age, currently hosts the largest number of AARP designated Age-Friendly Communities efforts. Given the size of this network, the purpose of this study was to collect descriptive information about the status of existing lifelong communities initiatives, their training and support needs, and the desired format and configuration of future training programming. An electronic survey was distributed to community representatives from 76 lifelong communities initiatives throughout Maine. A total of 38 communities responded to the survey representing a response rate of 50%. The majority of respondents (80.4%) reported having a committee or other coordinating group guiding their work. A large portion have completed planning phase activities including hosting focus groups (79.5%), carrying out a survey (66.7%), and identifying a list of local assets (59%). Fewer have completed the plan drafting phase (17.9%). A majority reported receiving assistance from AARP (66%) and a regional educational consortium (66%). The areas with highest self-reported training needs (based on mean ratings) are: Volunteer recruitment and retention, specialized trainings on Age-Friendly Community topics, Dementia-Friendly Communities topics, and outreach and community engagement strategies. Implications will be discussed including optimal configuration of training and support for similar such networks.

Overcoming Barriers to Livability for All Ages: Inclusivity Is the Key

The rapid pace of population aging in cities around the world demands that planners design communities that are livable for people of all ages and abilities. In 2017, to assess progress toward this end, AARP and the International Division of the American Planning Association conducted a global survey of planners on their efforts to incorporate a livable-communityfor-all-ages approach into their work. The survey of 559 planners measured motivators, barriers, strategies for engagement and practices facilitating planners’ work on livable communities for all ages (LCA). Using the international survey, we analyze factors driving local governments’ actions to advance LCA, and factors driving outcomes incorporating a livablecommunity-for-all-ages approach in planning practices. We show how these differ between the US and non-US respondents, including how US suburbs and rural areas lag in actions toward LCA. Regression results show that local motivations such as awareness of substantial growth in older populations is a primary factor motivating local governments to take more actions. While physical design is a critical part of the solution, we find that facilitating practices and community engagement in the process are key to advancing planning for age-friendly communities. Additionally, communities that practice more traditional approaches to planning and have limited resources actually exhibit a higher level of LCA outcomes. This suggests that focusing on community engagement and facilitating practices could be a promising approach to incorporating an all age lens in planning practices.