Introduction
A growing evidence base within gerontology suggests that the quality and attributes of the social and built environments in which older adults live have profound impacts on their health, quality of life and wellbeing (Menec, Means, Keating, Parkhurst & Eales, 2011). Furthermore, widespread population aging across the globe has placed a greater emphasis the need for initiatives that enable older adults to live active, social and independent lives (Chappel, McDonald & Stones, 2003). As a result, many researchers, health stakeholders and policy makers are calling for an increased focus on the integration of age-friendly neighbourhood design into the planning of communities (Emlet & Moceri, 2011; Sharlach & Lehning, 2013). The World …show more content…
First, the peer-reviewed databases within the SFU Library “Fast Search” function were systematically searched. The following search terms were utilized: (“older adult” AND “age-friendly” AND “city” OR “neighbourhood” OR “community”). Delimiters were set to only include scholarly, peer-review articles, those articles with full text online and articles published within the past ten years (post 2006). The initial search yielded 526 results. Second, the Ageline database was searched, using the same search criteria except with the omission of “older adult” (since Ageline is gerontology-specific). This search yielded 47 results. Upon reviewing the most relevant abstracts, 13 articles from the two searches were deemed to be the most focused on age-friendly neighbourhood design and its effect on promoting mobility and social inclusion among older adults. These 13 articles were then selected to be included in this review. Nine of the included articles were empirical in nature and four were theory-based. This review will summarize and critique the key themes and findings from those 13 studies. It will begin with a description of the key components of age-friendly cities. This will be followed by an analysis of how these components enable increased mobility and social inclusion for older adults. Next, study limitations and potential gaps in the research related to age-friendly cities will be discussed. The paper will then conclude with a summary of the literature review findings related to age-friendly neighbourhood design and future directions for
A growing evidence base within gerontology suggests that the quality and attributes of the social and built environments in which older adults live have profound impacts on their health, quality of life and wellbeing (Menec, Means, Keating, Parkhurst & Eales, 2011). Furthermore, widespread population aging across the globe has placed a greater emphasis the need for initiatives that enable older adults to live active, social and independent lives (Chappel, McDonald & Stones, 2003). As a result, many researchers, health stakeholders and policy makers are calling for an increased focus on the integration of age-friendly neighbourhood design into the planning of communities (Emlet & Moceri, 2011; Sharlach & Lehning, 2013). The World …show more content…
First, the peer-reviewed databases within the SFU Library “Fast Search” function were systematically searched. The following search terms were utilized: (“older adult” AND “age-friendly” AND “city” OR “neighbourhood” OR “community”). Delimiters were set to only include scholarly, peer-review articles, those articles with full text online and articles published within the past ten years (post 2006). The initial search yielded 526 results. Second, the Ageline database was searched, using the same search criteria except with the omission of “older adult” (since Ageline is gerontology-specific). This search yielded 47 results. Upon reviewing the most relevant abstracts, 13 articles from the two searches were deemed to be the most focused on age-friendly neighbourhood design and its effect on promoting mobility and social inclusion among older adults. These 13 articles were then selected to be included in this review. Nine of the included articles were empirical in nature and four were theory-based. This review will summarize and critique the key themes and findings from those 13 studies. It will begin with a description of the key components of age-friendly cities. This will be followed by an analysis of how these components enable increased mobility and social inclusion for older adults. Next, study limitations and potential gaps in the research related to age-friendly cities will be discussed. The paper will then conclude with a summary of the literature review findings related to age-friendly neighbourhood design and future directions for