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Age-friendly New York City is part of an international effort to ensure the great cities of the world not only support their residents as they age, but also tap the tremendous resources older people can offer. Led by the World Health Organization, the Global Age-Friendly Cities project involves more than 35 cities, including Istanbul, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) is proud to have brought this exciting effort to New York in 2007 with support from the New York City Council and the Office of the Mayor. This effort is timely, as the City’s population over age 65 is expected to increase by 45 percent between 2010 and 2030.
Throughout the last year, NYAM led an assessment that takes the viewpoint of older adults themselves to help guide planning. In community forums, focus groups, and interviews throughout the City, more than 1,500 older New Yorkers told NYAM what it is like to walk down their street and shop in their neighborhood, what they enjoy and don’t enjoy about growing older, what changes they would like to see, and what they hope never changes about New York. NYAM also spoke with caregivers, service providers, experts, and leaders in various public and private sectors about the opportunities and challenges for serving older populations.
In the Fall of 2008 NYAM released a report, Toward an Age-friendly New York City, which presents the major themes to emerge from these discussions. The report is focused on the eight issues areas identified by the World Health Organization as being central to an age-friendly city. These include:
- respect and social inclusion,
- communication and information,
- civic participation and employment,
- social participation,
- housing,
- transportation,
- public spaces, and,
- health and social services.
Addressing these and other issues identified by older New Yorkers cannot be done by government alone. It will require an innovative approach to planning that asks leaders and community members from all facets of City life how they intend to make their business, services, institutions, programs, and neighborhoods meet the needs of all New Yorkers – regardless of their age.
In the coming months, five groups of civic leaders will convene to develop an action plan in time for the first annual Age-friendly New York City Summit where a series of recommendations and commitments will be publicly announced. The groups will feature key representatives from Business and Labor, Academia and Research, Health and Social Service Providers, Civil Society, and Government; all of which play a crucial role in making New York City more age-friendly.
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Global
Resources:
World Health Organization protocol: "Global
Age-friendly Cities: A Guide" (2007)
World Health Organization checklist of features
of age-friendly cities (2007)
Age-Friendly New York City Resources:
About
the Initiative (overview,
steering committee)
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