Introduction

Introduction

Components of a Livable Community for Aging in Place

Many dimensions besides demographics are included in a livable community assessment. Livable communities address many aspects of a person’s life, not just health and disability. According to Partners for Livable Communities [www.livable.com], there are ten core components of ageless communities: health and human services, transportation and mobility, public safety, housing, financial services, workforce development, civic engagement and volunteer opportunities, culture and lifelong learning, public policy and zoning, and factors that contribute to making communities good places to grow up and grow old. Mercy Care for the Adirondacks has added a new component at the beginning to assess how friendly a community is to people of all ages.

An important step in planning a Livable Community for Aging in Place is to conduct a thorough community assessment using these components. Aging in place advocates believe that it is important to emphasize positive qualities and inventory community resources, including the valuable qualities and talents of older residents. Each of these core components of ageless communities is included in the Aging in Place Scorecard [link to below], which can guide your group in a discussion and rating of each component.

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Organizing a community assessment for Aging in Place that includes all these components is a challenge. One way to organize an assessment is to place the factors within a model that shows their relative importance in successful aging and sustained quality of life. In this way, the community assessment can focus on factors that have the largest impact and are most important to successful aging. Where do we get such a model?

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Research for AARP’s Beyond 50.05 Study on Livable Communities shows that the most important predictor of successful aging in adults is community attachment. Older adults who report that they are “strongly attached” to their communities are more likely to say they are satisfied with life and have a strong sense of self-control and quality of life. Attachment is stronger for home owners than renters and increases with time. It correlates with staying healthy and active, with working and volunteering, organizational memberships, civic participation, attendance at community events, and, for some, religious involvement.

The study also found that levels of community attachment and engagement are strongly affected by home and community features. Homes that are accessible in their original design or through modification improve satisfaction, and community stability can be enhanced through the availability of affordable housing options. In this way, residents are not forced to move out of their homes or out of the community. It is up to the community to ensure options for working, volunteering, and participating, to enhance safety and inclusiveness, and encourage healthy living and activity through supportive services.

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The satisfaction of successful aging is also determined by how well home and community are linked through mobility options, including driving, accessible public transportation, and walking and bicycling. Walking and bicycling must be facilitated by provision of safe streets and sidewalks.

Each of the core components can be mapped onto the four major headings of this model, as shown on the right.

Beginning the Assessment

One approach to begin an assessment is for community volunteers to review and discuss all of the components using the scorecard [link to below]. A second approach is to prioritize first, the complete the scorecard for areas with the highest priority. Either way, volunteers can then decide what actions they can take immediately and what additional information they need to continue planning.

Partners for Livable Communities identifies ten core components of ageless communities:

community image Community is friendly to people of all ages