How can European cities become more inclusive of their older citizens? The question was discussed at a participative workshop that we organised as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities (9-12th October 2023). Together with city planners we reflected on how to better include older citizens in urban planning, through innovative technology.
Ageing in cities: need for adequate policy response
In a context of demographic change with a world that is becoming more urbanised, it is crucial to guarantee the fulfilment of all rights and ensure freedom from age discrimination.
Today, over 500 million older people live in towns and cities, accounting for 57% of all older people in the world. By 2050, this figure will have doubled to over one billion. Are cities taking older people’s perspective in the urban planning of their city into account? Or are urban planners not considering the potential and diversity of the older population? This was the reflection of the workshop attended by more than 30 city planners in Europe.
The reality is that urban planning is still largely designed without adequately considering the diverse needs of older persons and tends to consider data only from the ‘active’ group of population. The consequence is a lack of representation of older people in local governance or decision-making processes. Examples of these are the inadequate accessibility of public spaces, poorly designed housing, insufficient public services, inadequate transportation, ageism in employment, social isolation, disregard for safety, among others.
Entitled “From Interoperable Urban Platforms to Local Digital Twins: Inclusive Tools for Resilient Cities“, this workshop gathered experts in urban planning, technology, policymakers and civil society in Brussels around 3 smaller roundtables to discuss:
- Developing strategies for the Inclusiveness of cities, specifically for older people.
- How Local Digital Twins can be a tool for citizens’ benefit. (Digital Twins, one of the main outputs of the URBANAGE project, are virtual representation of cities used to simulate, monitor, and analyse urban data. Know more here)
- Peer learning and sharing of best practices regarding innovative technologies to increase the inclusiveness of the cities through better accessibility, based on insights from URBANAGE project.
The workshop was organised as part of the URBANAGE project and in partnership with the Open Agile Smart Cities, an international smart city network creating and shaping the global smart city data and services market of tomorrow. URBANAGE is a European initiative (funded by Horizon 2020) focused on helping urban planners and policy makers harness the power of new technologies for more inclusive, evidence-based decisions. Urabanage not only started IT development from requirements of older people but co-created and co-designed different use cases with older people to improve the accessibility of the city using innovative technology, as digital twins.
Key messages for the future development of cities:
- As we build digital urban ecosystems, no one should be left behind. This includes older people who are traditionally excluded from urban decision-making. Including older people in urban planning offers several benefits, not only for older individuals but for the community as a whole: enhanced quality of life, multigenerational benefits, resilient local economies, among others.
- The use of simple tools, gamification, incentives and capacity-building (peer-to-peer and train the trainer/intermediary) are shown to be good approaches to motivate older citizens to participate in shaping urban life. Know more in the Policy Brief for Older Adults Engagement developed within the URBANAGE project.
- Cities and Governments need to break down existing urban data silos and foster future collaboration work to encourage not only civil servants on using digital tools, but to encourage citizens to use innovative tools like digital twins, to be more consulted for cities.
- Data spaces are vital for ensuring that urban data is managed ethically and in compliance with privacy regulations. Ideally in digital urban ecosystems, data is shared, solutions are scaled, and cities collaborate seamlessly. The result is resilient cities that can adapt to the evolving needs of their citizens, as they age, while promoting sustainability. Explore the URBANAGE platform and the use cases developed within the project here.
A call for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities
To make the cities and communities of tomorrow inclusive, urban planners, policymakers, and communities need to adopt age-friendly design principles. This includes considering the needs of older residents in urban planning, infrastructure development, and social programs. Creating age-friendly cities not only benefits older individuals but also contributes to the overall well-being and sustainability of urban communities.
In the words of Thiago Hérick De Sá from the Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing Unit, World Health Organization (WHO) in an interview given to Urbanage consortium regarding the role of technology in creating age-friendly cities and communities: “As long as we start from engaging older people, understanding what is meaningful to them, and involving them throughout the process, we will most likely foster all the benefits of technology to make the world a better place to age for the generations of today and tomorrow”.
The URBANAGE ecosystem (digital urban planning platform) aims to make it easier for urban planners, decision makers, and older adults to work together to design and develop inclusive, healthier, and happier cities where older people can live independently. As URBANAGE is coming to an end early 2024, we are in the right moment to share the lessons learned of the project and all the tools developed for more than 2 years. The final event will take place in the Smart City Expo World Congress from 7th to 9th November 2023, in Barcelona, Spain, where AGE will be present.