New article describes the innovative co-created approach adopted by Portugal’s most innovative age-friendly initiative: The Cascais Protocol
Tag: aging
Demographic data such as age, gender, and income, is perhaps the single most important source of information for city planners. As ageing in urban settlement emerges as a global demographic trend, a better understanding of the importance and limitations of demographics should be placed at the top of researchers’ list of priorities.
City planners are demographic data-dependent. That is, they rely on the composition of the neighborhoods and regions to make their decisions. To illustrate the importance of basic population information as the core facet of any city’s decisions, we can simply remember that most of a city’s standards are expressed in terms of population: The number of students per classroom, the number of trash bins by resident, and so forth.
Praising older athletes achievements by denying the benefits of growing old is not acceptable anymore. High-level athletes should be a source of inspiration to all ages.
From January 12th to February 19th the London Design Museum had an exhibition dedicated to the demographic change. Entitled “New Old” the exhibition looked at how design can help people lead fuller, healthier and more rewarding lives into old age.
The curator, Jeremy Myerson, a renowned academic dedicated to people-centred and inclusive design, could not be clearer about his perspective on the dominant perception about old-age:
Buddy Guy (80), Ronnie Wood (69) and Jonny Lang (35).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuEO1dCgzAU
Music is perhaps the best examples of the power of intergenerational partnerships. Enjoy!
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Solving Age-Friendly Dilemmas
A heritage of Roman culture developed by Portuguese during the nineteenth century, the Portuguese pavement is a good example of the potential dilemmas that can arise from age-friendly initiatives. That ancient city technology is not only a smart and eco-friendly solution but also an infinite source of inspiration for artists.
However, when it comes to pedestrian safety, in particular the safety of frail citizens, the Portuguese pavement might not be the most adequate technology available. In fact, it might represent a significant increased risk.
Creativity and innovation are often seen as a monopoly of “the young”. Young persons are supposed to be naturally more prone to the novel simply because they are young. The main issue with that sort of assumption is that it is also frequently accompanied by the idea that older persons do not have the same “drive”, or even worst, cannot be innovative.
In this moving video from the New York Times, the awarded writer Norman Lear is the central point for a number of lessons about old age.
The video also captures another important problem:
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Age-Smart Cities
In this video (published in February 2013) IBM presents their view for an “Age-Smart City”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDvW8R4BL0I
As usual, the perspective about ageing is pretty narrow. However, the video can be a good starting point for a discussion and brings some interesting examples.
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Cultural Tips: The Greatest
“Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
The stars at night turned deep to dust”
Artist: Cat Power Director & Editor: Adam Hall Cinematography: Ryan Samul
Women’s Bowling League, Salt Lake City, Utah
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World Population Ageing 2015
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs recently published an interesting infochart about the World Population Ageing, reflecting the latest estimates and projections from the 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects.
“Virtually every country in the world will experience growth in the number and share of older persons in the population over the next 15 years || Between 2015 and 2030, the number of older persons — those aged 60 years or over — in the world is projected to grow by 56 per cent, from 901 million to more than 1.4 billion”
You can download the main demographic indicators for Norway here.