Creating age-friendly cities: prioritizing interventions with Q-methodology

ABSTRACT

Over the past two decades, the age-friendly city (AFC) movement has emerged as a policy response to rapid population ageing and urbanization. Although AFCs have been conceptualized in different ways, there is a consensus that an interconnected physical and social environment is critical for creating age-friendly communities. To date, however, there has been limited investigation of the comparative importance of these elements within cities. Using Q-methodology, this study examines how key stakeholders prioritize age-friendly interventions seen through a case study of metropolitan Perth, Australia. Based on the World Health Organization's age-friendly cities guide, a new conceptual framework is presented that categorizes AFC interventions by elements (physical and social) and scale (community and targeted). Q-factor analysis revealed a number of distinct viewpoints that highlight the importance of a life course perspective along with spatial and social planning for the creation of age-friendly communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Ageing
• age-friendly cities
• urban planning
• social planning
• Q-methodology

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Professor Matthew Tonts for his invaluable contribution, Professor Fiona Haslam-Mackenzie for her generous assistance and the various reviewers for their helpful input.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.