Why and How Have Korean Cities Embraced the World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Model?

ABSTRACT

This study examined forces leading Korean cities to join the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) and implement the WHO guidelines, from the perspectives of multiple streams theory and policy transfer theory. We conducted interviews with stakeholders from six member cities and identified relevant themes using directed content analysis. Political motivation was the strongest factor in seeking Network membership, but the lack of political motivations after gaining membership resulted in lackluster local implementation efforts. The national capital cities may need to take a stronger leadership role to encourage the expansion of the WHO AFCC Network in Asia.

KEYWORDS:

• Age-friendly cities
• World Health Organization
• multiple streams theory
• policy transfer theory
• Asia
• global aging

Acknowledgments

A preliminary version of this work was presented at the 21st International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) World Congress, San Francisco, CA.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2017S1A5A8019648].