Abstract
There are now over 300 members of the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. The growth of the network since its establishment in 2010 has raised a variety of social, organizational and political challenges in respect of implementing the age-friendly approach. This symposium will develop a new framework for analyzing opportunities and barriers to implementing the age-friendly model in a variety of urban contexts in North America and Europe. The approach taken develops the concepts of ‘collaborative urbanism’ and ‘coproduction’ with older people, these highlighting the importance of partnerships between older people, families, and statutory and non-statutory organisations. This symposium brings together presentations from different social and cultural settings: (1) Chris Phillipson and Tine Buffel will provide a critical perspective on the development of age-friendly cities by exploring this approach in the context of urban processes affected by globalisation, urban regeneration and economic austerity. (2) Lindsay Goldman will examine recent developments in the implementation of Age-Friendly New York City, reviewing challenges associated with ownership, funding, and sustainability through political change and shifting priorities. (3) Samuele Remillard-boilard will compare age-friendly policies and initiatives in Manchester (UK), Montreal (Canada) and Brussels (Belgium), focusing on the challenges for developing age-friendly environments in socially and ethnically diverse cities. (4) Finally, Liesbeth De Donder and An-Sofie Smetcoren will reflect on the challenges and opportunities of using a co-construction approach in developing age-friendly communities in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods in Belgium.