WHO Age Friendly Cities: Enacting Societal Transformation through Enabling Occupation

Abstract

Age-friendly cities and communities (AFC) is an international movement initiated by the World Health Organization in response to simultaneous patterns of global aging and urbanization. A key aspect of AFC is a commitment to a cycle of continual improvement that addresses key aspects of the environment, such as accessibility, transport, intergenerational links, respect, community participation, and service provision. Given the focus of environmental influences on activity participation, this policy initiative overlaps with the core domain of concern of occupational science, that is, occupation. This discussion paper contends that occupational science is aligned with principles of active ageing and AFCs, and has the potential to provide evidence for the link between occupation and health, and open novel ways to think about and attend to the occupational rights of ageing persons. The frameworks of active ageing and AFC provide a means for occupational science to enact its values on enabling occupation and related concepts. An occupational science perspective can emphasize the development of enabling policies and, combined with the principles of AFC, contribute to the development of social policies and their enactment within local contexts, based upon a complex understanding of occupation and its relationship to health and well-being.

Keywords:

• Age-friendly cities
• Active ageing
• Enabling occupation
• Occupational science
• Social policy

Notes

1. The following cities participated in the AFC research: La Plata, Argentina; Melbourne & Melville, Australia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Halifax, Portage la Prairie, Saanich & Sherbrooke, Canada; Shanghai, China; San José, Costa Rica; Ruhr, Germany; New Delhi & Udaipur, India; Dundalk, Ireland; Udine, Italy; Kingston and Montego Bay (combined), Jamaica; Himeji & Tokyo, Japan; Amman, Jordan; Nairobi, Kenya; Tripoli, Lebanon; Cancún & Mexico City, Mexico; Islamabad, Pakistan; Mayaguez & Ponce, Puerto Rico; Geneva, Switzerland; Moscow & Tuymazy, Russian Federation; Istanbul, Turkey; London, United Kingdom; Portland, USA.