Key characteristics of age-friendly cities and communities: A review

• The rapid growth of ageing populations makes ageing a global priority.
• Age-friendly initiatives mainly occur in the developed world.
• Multi-stakeholder collaborations should be encouraged to optimise ageing strategies.
• Age related issues and policies should recognise the importance of older people.
• The incorporation of outcome measures is suggested as part of an evaluation process.

The creation of age-friendly environments worldwide has been promoted by the World Health Organization as a strategy to address the challenges posed by the converging trends of urbanisation and population. This has resulted in an increased discussed of strategies and initiatives which ensure policies, services and products meet the needs of older persons. This article aims to examine the current evidence of approaches and interventions used to create age-friendly cities and communities identified in recent research and practice. This review identified clear characteristics that contribute towards an age-friendly city. Multi-stakeholder collaborations, government commitment, inclusion of older persons and policies that tackled both the physical and social environments were key factors that contributed towards approaches and interventions used to create age-friendly cities and communities. The characteristics of age-friendly initiatives identified provide a promising basis for the development of ageing policy and planning globally to make cities more supportive of older people.