Age-Friendly Communities Academic Research from the USA
Summary
The academic research published in 2024 offers critical insights into the evolving landscape of age-friendly communities across the United States. This collection of six articles highlights innovative approaches, challenges, and opportunities within the age-friendly movement, demonstrating its potential to improve the quality of life for older adults while addressing broader societal needs. From reframing demographic aging as a global opportunity to examining local government strategies, higher education partnerships, and climate resilience, the studies emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and equity-focused planning. By exploring these findings, stakeholders can better understand how to create inclusive, sustainable communities that support aging with dignity and purpose.
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Age-Friendly Communities Academic Research from the United States The academic research published in 2024 offers critical insights into the evolving landscape of age-friendly communities across the United States.
This collection of six articles highlights innovative approaches, challenges, and opportunities within the agefriendly movement, demonstrating its potential to improve quality of life for older adults while addressing broader societal needs. From reframing demographic aging as a global opportunity to examining local government strategies, higher education partnerships, and climate resilience, the studies emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and equity-focused planning. By exploring these findings, stakeholders can better understand how to create inclusive, sustainable communities that support aging with dignity and purpose. We extend our gratitude to Patricia Oh, PhD, LMSW, Assistant Director of Community Innovation and Research at the University of Maine Center on Aging for her exceptional work in synthesizing and summarizing this academic research, making these complex ideas accessible to those leading agefriendly initiatives.
‘It Made Me Change the Way I Do Business’: Outcomes from Age-Friendly Community Initiatives as Systems Change How do age-friendly initiatives create lasting system change? To find out, researchers talked with 26 leaders from eight well-established age-friendly communities in New Jersey. They looked at six key ways age-friendly community initiatives can influence system change: influencing policies, improving how organizations work, shifting where resources and information flow, adjusting who has decision making power, building relationships, and changing how people think about aging. The good news? Age-friendly initiatives are: • Improving how organizations serve older adults • Getting resources and information to where they’re needed • Building stronger connections between community partners • Changing how people think about aging and older adults However, the initiatives had less success changing local policies and shifting power relationships in communities. These findings suggest that age-friendly leaders are important change-makers in their communities. While system change can be challenging, leaders can create meaningful impact by strengthening local partnerships, improving services, and shifting attitudes about aging. Greenfield, E.A., Pope, N.E. (2024). ‘It Made Me Change the Way I Do Business’: Outcomes from Age-Friendly Community Initiatives as Systems Change, The Gerontologist, gnae149, https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnae149
“I’m Part of Something That Matters”: Exploring What Older Adults Value Through Their Engagement in Age-Friendly Community Initiatives What makes older adults want to stay involved in age-friendly work? Researchers interviewed 23 older volunteers and leaders from 15 age-friendly initiatives across Maine, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania to find out. Their findings revealed three main things that participants valued: First, they appreciated being able to make meaningful contributions to their communities, whether by using their professional skills or advocating for positive change. Second, they valued the connections they made – both with fellow volunteers and with the broader community. Finally, they enjoyed staying active and continuing to learn and grow through their involvement. The study shows that age-friendly initiatives offer unique opportunities for older adults to contribute to their communities while building relationships and developing personally. For initiative leaders looking to recruit and retain volunteers, emphasizing these three aspects – the chance to make a difference, build connections, and stay engaged in meaningful work – could be particularly effective. Cao, Q., Pope, N., & Greenfield, E. (2024). “I’m Part of Something That Matters”: Exploring What Older Adults Value Through Their Engagement in Age-Friendly Community Initiatives. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 1-23.
What Makes a Community Age Friendly? Policymakers Emphasize Physical Over Social Factors This study examines how local government policymakers conceptualize “age-friendly” communities by comparing their unprompted descriptions of municipal strengths and weaknesses for aging against the World Health Organization’s (WHO) eight domains of livability. The good news? Most policymakers (68%) support age-friendly community initiatives. They primarily focus on improving the physical environment (outdoor spaces and public buildings, transportation, and housing) and health services. They were less likely to prioritize changes in the social environment or in communication and information. The lack of attention to social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic engagement, and communication and information domains may hinder progress toward age-friendly goals. Research suggests that older adults’ social participation and civic engagement are critical to create changes in the physical environment and in community services. The findings point to an opportunity for local governments to broaden their approach to age-friendly work by strengthening their focus on keeping older adults socially connected and actively involved in community planning and decision-making. Chattopadhyay, J. (2024). What Makes a Community Age Friendly? Policymakers Emphasize Physical Over Social Factors. State and Local Government Review, 0160323X241251782.
Age-Friendly and Climate Resilient Communities: A Grey–Green Alliance Should we add climate resilience as a ninth age-friendly domain? The authors argue that we should. Currently, the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities framework doesn’t directly address climate change. This is a significant gap; older adults are often hit hardest by extreme weather, poor air quality, and other climate impacts. But many age-friendly solutions already support climate goals too. For instance: • Better public transportation helps older adults get around while reducing carbon emissions • More parks and tree-covered spaces keep neighborhoods cooler during heat waves while creating pleasant places for everyone to gather • Home modification programs could include climate-smart updates that both save money and increase safety during extreme weather The article highlights that older adults aren’t just victims of climate change but can be powerful climate activists through organizations like Elders Climate Action. By formally adding climate resilience as a domain, communities can better share knowledge and strategies, ultimately advancing both agefriendly and climate resilience objectives while breaking down traditional policy silos. Dabelko-Schoeny, H., Dabelko, G. D., Rao, S., Damico, M., Doherty, F. C., Traver, A. C., & Sheldon, M. (2024). Age-friendly and climate resilient communities: A grey–green alliance. The Gerontologist, 64(3), gnad137.
Leveraging Higher Education in Our Age-Friendly World Want to know how colleges and universities can help your age-friendly work? This study examines how higher education institutions engage with Age-Friendly Communities (AFCs) in the United States. The researchers analyzed 56 paired action plans and progress reports from 80 AFCs, exploring how colleges and universities support AFC efforts through their core activities of teaching, research, and service. Nearly all AFCs report partnerships with a local college or university. These partnerships are most often seen in research projects (e.g., community assessments, walk audits), hands-on learning opportunities for students (e.g., blood pressure clinic, GIS mapping), and faculty service on age-friendly committees. Much of higher education’s efforts in age-friendly is focused on the social environment (e.g., respect and social inclusion), followed by the service environment (e.g., health services), with the least involvement in the built environment. The take-away? Colleges and universities can be valuable partners in age-friendly community initiatives, and there is an abundance of opportunities to expand these relationships, especially in connecting different generations and developing age-friendly action plans. Black, K., Oh, P., Montepare, J., & Kaye, L. (2024). Leveraging Higher Education in Our Age-Friendly World. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 1-17.
Demographic Aging: An Opportunity to Rethink Economy, Society and Regions Global population aging is often viewed as a crisis, but this article reframes it as an opportunity to reimagine society, economy, and urban development. Research shows most regions will experience both aging and population decline this century, with Europe and Eastern Asia already past their population peaks, and Latin America and South/Southeast Asia following by mid-century. The authors propose three key adjustments to address these demographic shifts: • Economic: Moving from GDP growth metrics toward measuring well-being and purpose, with increased focus on service and care sectors • Social Policy: Creating new approaches linking formal and informal care systems, while improving conditions for care workers • Urban Planning: Redesigning cities with mixed-use development and better accessibility for all ages, moving away from segregated land use Rather than resisting aging populations, societies should embrace this transition as a chance to build more inclusive, sustainable communities that prioritize quality of life over pure economic growth. Warner, M.E., Zhang, X. and Guillemot, J. (2025). Demographic Aging: An Opportunity to rethink economy, society and regions, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, part of special issue on Global Crises, Megatrends and Regional Development, March 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae031
Key facts
Main target group: Older people in general
Sector(s): Other
Desired outcome for older people:
Contribute
- Ageing in place
- Disasters and emergencies
- Inclusion
- Participation