Backdrop:

With the explosion in the number of elderly populations in the world, many issues related to their happy aging keep cropping up. One among them is their place of stay. In the past, there was not much discussion about it as family used to be an extended one and all members including elders were automatically a part of the same. Family used to be the first and only choice. The seniors, in fact, enjoyed a premier positioning in terms of respect and authority. All generations used to live together and happily too. Things started changing with the impact of two factors: western influence and urbanization. Both these have impacted the way we live and behave. The direct impact has been on elderly with evolution of the concept of “unitary family”. While in rural places one can still see extended families, in urban centers, there is complete withering of large family system.

The above development has given rise to three modes of living for the elderly. In a few cases, they continue to stay with children but on account of inter-generational conflicts and lack of living space, this is become increasingly rare. In the second option, elders stay alone in their homes. This “stay alone” phenomenon is one among the major causes of loneliness and depression. While migration back to the system of extended family is not possible, staying alone may also not be the wise option.

And finally, some seniors have started moving to old age homes or apartments. While some of these are well-managed and livable, others are not in great shape. One major problem in this set up is that the seniors are always interacting with others who are also elderly and therefore, the energy & vibrance is lacking. Loneliness and depression do not get resolved through such interactions.

Meaning and Development of Age Friendly Communities:

Above problems of “living place” by elderly have given rise to new concept of “age friendly community”. This means creating an ideal scenario for all age groups staying together in a community with mutual respect and taking in view needs and aspirations of all. These communities particularly take care of the special aspirations and expectations of elderly so that they can happily age.

Some of the specific domains of need of elderly that are taken care of in such age friendly communities are:

1. Respect and inclusion
2. Housing facilities (taking care of special needs of elderly)
3. Social participation
4. Transportation facilities (taking care of special needs of elderly)
5. Outdoor designing (taking care of special needs of elderly)
6. Employment opportunities
7. Health service and community welfare

This essentially means that these communities cater to all special needs of the elderly so that people of all ages can stay together while meeting, to a large extent, unique requirements of elderly.

WHO Global Network for Age Friendly Cities & Communities was launched in 2010 to propagate this cause. It has seen some progress with 1,333 cities & communities from 47 countries getting connected through the above framework impacting the lives of 298 million people. This is a great mission by the WHO to create a world-wide movement of developing network of age friendly cities & communities whereby people of all ages can live together while taking care of special needs of elderly. The network endeavors to inspire, connect and aid through developed models to create such communities on sustainable basis.

However, the movement has yet to reach many countries and cities and it will take quite some time before it becomes a truly global phenomenon. But the very idea is a great one as it has good benefits in terms of:

1. Allowing people from all ages to live together with sense of understanding and respect
2. Taking special care of needs, both physical and emotional, of elderly
3. Building up a perfect model whereby the energy of youth and wisdom of elderly can co-exist and supplement each other
4. Creating an ambience for happy aging for the elderly
5. And finally creating an ultimate world as “one family”

Conclusion:

As one can see, the concept of age friendly cities & communities has a very powerful connotation as that can really change face of the world through creation of a perfectly happy co-existent livable world. But it must also be appreciated that we have miles to go in terms of convincing many countries, cities and communities to be part of this global movement. The mental block needs to be removed. And this is possibly the best way we can allow happy aging for the elderly. Today’s youth will become elders of tomorrow. And therefore, this should be a saleable idea as it can create a world of unitary peace.