Repositioning Age-Friendly Communities

The Division of Aging and Seniors of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) retained the Canadian Urban Institute to prepare this research report to determine the extent to which the concept of Age Friendly Communities (AFC) complements or is consistent with other mainstream planning concepts such as Smart Growth and Healthy Cities.

Acknowledging that planners and others responsible for decisions affecting the built environment are constantly challenged to adopt new ideas and adjust how they respond to issues such as demographic change, PHAC plans to prepare a publication that presents the Age Friendly concept in a broader context, potentially illustrating how the principles of AFC can be either embedded or structured to complement other paradigms such as Smart Growth, Healthy Communities (HC) and Child Friendly Planning.

This report is intended to provide the basis such for a publication, which would be aimed at a target audience of municipal planners, decision makers and the extensive network of private consultants who advise the development community. The goal is to identify ways to help move AFC into the mainstream of planning‐related discourse.