Age-friendly Ecosystems : Environments for Equitable Aging by Design

This compact book examines age friendliness within the framework of age-friendly ecosystems, and from a place-based approach, considering anchor institutions of neighborhoods, campuses and health environments as sites uniquely positioned to catalyze age equity and inclusivity.

Age friendliness has grown from an idea into a social movement that recognizes the diversity of older adults, and integrates research, policy, programming and design practices. Compounding pressures of rapid aging, systemic ageism, and a growing disparity of resources compel us to rethink how we achieve equity in aging through the design of places and practices.

Content for this book draws from a 2022 symposium, Age Friendly Communities as Platforms for Equity, Health & Wellness. Contributors build upon the content shared through the symposium in order to examine how neighborhoods, campuses and health environments are uniquely poised to support equity and to extend reach to historically marginalized populations of older adults. Ideas and experiences from national experts in aging, as well as "real world" experiences and narratives shared by older adults, students, community stakeholders and faculty researchers, are presented through a place-based approach. Collectively the voices in this book create a lens for empowering age-friendly ecosystems as environments for equitable aging by design. Among the topics covered:

• Creating an Age-Friendly Environment Across the Ecosystem
• Age Friendliness as a Framework for Equity in Aging
• Age-Friendly Voices in the Pursuit of an Age-Friendly Ecosystem
• Age-Friendly Futures: Equity by Design

Age-Friendly Ecosystems: Environments for Equitable Aging by Design is written for people who are interested in understanding how the age-friendly movement is transforming places we live – community planners, designers, policy makers, aging service providers, academics and citizen activists. This compact volume presents a case of need for age friendliness in places we live, learn and care for our health. Readers with interests in the professional practice areas of aging studies/gerontology, architecture and planning, colleges and universities, community/neighborhood development, health systems, research, and policy will benefit from this brief that examines neighborhoods, campuses, and health environments from interdisciplinary perspectives.

Valerie Chang Greer, AIA, LEED AP, is an Assistant Professor in the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning and an architect with experience designing healthcare facilities, campuses and housing. Greer is Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Architecture and co-Director of the Healthy Aging Resilient Places (HARP) Lab at the University of Utah. Her research utilizes participatory community engagement and co-creation methods to explore the impact of built environments on health and wellness. Greer teaches design studios and professional practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Linda S. Edelman, PhD, RN, is a Professor in the University of Utah College of Nursing. Her research focus is rural aging and improving older adult care transitions through interprofessional education and community-based research. Dr. Edelman leads the Utah Geriatric Education Consortium (UGEC), an interprofessional HRSA funded workforce development grant focusing on improving the life and care of older adults through age-friendly care. The UGEC partners with U Health’s Age Friendly Health Systems initiative and with long-term services and supports organizations across Utah to implement the “4Ms” framework.