Creating Communities: Atlanta's Lifelong Community Initiative

ABSTRACT

Atlanta, like most other parts of the nation, is experiencing a dramatic increase in its older adult population. To support healthy aging, it is important to create lifelong communities where people can live throughout their lifetime and where older adults can age in place. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), serving as the Area Agency on Aging and the Metropolitan Planning Organization, developed the Lifelong Communities Initiative as a comprehensive effort to help communities in the metro area respond to the diverse needs of a changing population. To more fully realize the Lifelong Community concept for the Atlanta region, ARC sponsored an intensive design workshop that produced several major breakthroughs in what makes a community truly “lifelong.” This article will describe ARC's Lifelong Community Initiative, the planning process, the outcomes of the charrette process, and present the community of Mableton as a case study to implement a lifelong community.

KEYWORDS. :

• Lifelong
• communities
• planning
• aging
• healthy
• built
• environment
• principles
• charrette

Notes

1 In a recent survey by The University of Georgia Carl Vincent Institute of Government for the Atlanta Regional Commission, 64% of the 55+ population said they would stay “as long as they can,” while 86% of the 80+ said they would stay in their current residence, 2007 Atlanta Regional Commission