As the largest city in Israel, Jerusalem is preparing for the dramatic increase in it’s aging population; it is estimated that by 2020-2025 the number of elderly—currently 75,000 (age 65 and older)–will increase by 20%. Jerusalem’s older population is diverse, with Jews, Muslims, Christians residents as well as new immigrants and senior tourists.

Our policy vision is to consider healthy, active and engaged older people to be assets in the development of the city and in creating a more sustainable society. This vision aims to create “Age-friendly Jerusalem” to better integrate older people in the city’s services and landscape. Between 2013-2014, we and the Israeli Ministry of Senior Citizens partnered to design a master-plan which we started to implement in March 2015.

The master-plan provided four mechanisms for promoting ageing in place:

1. Affordable activities and subsidised services must work in collaboration with HMO’s and private-public partnerships.
2. Accessibility of activities, services, information, transportation and physical conditions to all the different socio-cultural groups.
3. Intergenerational activities to accommodate both young and old residents to promote a sustainable and resilient society for all ages.
4. Inter-organizational activities: a collaborative approach which involves senior community members with all the relevant stakeholders.