What makes a city age-friendly?

Friday, 25 October 2019

Speaker: Louise Plouffe

Lecture title: What makes a city age-friendly?

Lecture Summary

Major global trends in this century include the aging of the population and urbanization.  However, most cities and towns are built to accommodate a working age-population and their families, with little thought of the growing numbers of increasingly older persons with a wide spectrum of physical and cognitive abilities. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) undertook to identify the key features that make a city ‘age-friendly’ and to mobilize municipal governments, older persons and community groups to change their cities and towns in that direction. Starting with consultations in 33 cities in 22 countries, the age-friendly city concept has since evolved into a world-wide network.  In Canada alone, over 1000 communities in all 10 provinces have joined  the movement, including Mississippi Mills.  In this presentation, you will learn from the WHO project leader how the ‘age-friendly’ idea became a global tipping point in urban planning.

Slides: Age-friendly Communities

Bio: Louise Plouffe

Louise Plouffe (Ph.D., Psychology) has extensive experience in leading policy research and analysis on health and social dimensions of aging within Canada and internationally, notably with the Government of Canada, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Longevity Centre (ILC) Brazil and ILC Canada.  She developed the conceptual framework and led the consultations which launched the global WHO Age Friendly Cities initiative.  Louise has contributed to the expansion and evaluation of Age Friendly Cities within Canada, and most recently, was actively engaged locally in the implementation of Age Friendly Ottawa.  She has published and presented widely on age-friendly communities and cities in Canada and internationally. Louise has received the Contributions to Gerontology Award from the Canadian Association on Gerontology as well as a Knowledge Translation Award from the Public Health Agency of Canada.