Service-Learning through conference-based, interdisciplinary workshops on Age-Friendly design

ABSTRACT

For three consecutive years, the Age-Friendly Design Committee (AFDC) of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) used AGHE’s annual meeting as a platform to conduct community-based service-learning workshops focusing on age-friendly design. These workshops assembled local stakeholders, conference attendees from multiple disciplines, and landscape and architectural designers to discuss age-friendly design issues and solutions for local environments. Each workshop provided hands-on design experience and the opportunity for AGHE participants to contribute to conference host communities by using their gerontological expertise to translate knowledge into practice. Local stakeholders learned the value of gerontological input when considering design issues. We describe the process of incorporating service-learning into the conference experience through age-friendly design workshops and how these bring together students, faculty, and design professionals from different backgrounds and disciplines to address local age-friendly design issues.

KEYWORDS:

• Service-learning
• age-friendly design
• interdisciplinary
• accessibility
• environmental design

Notes

1. The World Health Organization described age-friendly communities as those that adapt “structures and services to be accessible to and inclusive of older people with varying needs and capacities” (WHO, 2007, p. 1).

2. An RCFE, according to the state of California, is a housing arrangement where 75 percent of the residents are 60 years of age or older with varying levels of care needs. Younger residents of RCFEs must have needs compatible with other residents (Westlaw, 2018, para. r.5).