Aging Playfully: Reimagining the Possibilities of Age-Friendly Community Planning

A compelling argument for designing public spaces that invite play for older adults.

Play isn’t just for children. It encourages physical activity, sparks creativity, builds community cohesion, combats loneliness, and even fights ageism. So, why don’t we design communities that facilitate play for all age groups and that support the health and well-being of rapidly aging populations? 

In response to this question, Aging Playfully pursues an entirely new direction in community planning, policy, and research to support health and well-being in later life. Maxwell Hartt draws on conceptual models, extensive empirical analysis of play behavior in a Florida retirement community, assessments of older adults’ perceptions of play and public space in Victoria, British Columbia, and interviews with planners, aging experts, and play practitioners worldwide. He distills this work into practical guidelines for creating truly age-friendly communities. Planning processes should meaningfully engage older adults, and designs must accommodate a range of individual physical and social abilities to create flexible, multifunctional spaces. Communities should facilitate not only play with clear health benefits but also play for the sake of play. Crucially, they should incorporate appropriate risks—such as speed and balance—that maximize both play and fun.

Calling on scholars, planners, policymakers, and community members, Aging Playfully invites us to challenge societal assumptions about later life, reimagine the possibilities of play, and rethink the future of age-friendly design.

Maxwell Hartt is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Planning and director of the Population and Place Research Lab at Queen’s University, Canada.