A Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: New Directions for Research and Policy Tine Buffel, Chris Phillipson and Samuèle Rémillard-Boilard Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA), The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Definition An age-friendly city and community is one in which policies, services, and structures related to the physical and social environment are designed to support and enable older people to “age actively”– that is, to live in security, enjoy good health, and continue to participate fully in society (World Health Organization 2007). Overview Two dominant forces are shaping social and economic life in the twenty-first century – popu- lation aging on the one side and urbanization on the other. Population aging is taking place across all countries of the world, albeit at varying levels of intensity. The proportion of those aged 60 years and over in the global north increased from 12% in 1950 to 23% in 2013 and is expected to reach 32% in 2050. In the global south, the share of older persons increased slowly between 1950 and 2013, from 6% to 9%, but is expected to accelerate in the coming decades, reaching 20% in 2050 (United Nations [UN] 2019). Of equal importance has been the spread of urbanization, with over half of the world’ s population (55%) now living in urban areas, with this expected to increase to more than two-thirds by 2050 (UN 2019). Understanding the relationship between population aging and urban change has become a major issue for public policy. The case for such work is especially strong given that cities are where the majority of people (of all ages) now live and where they will spend their old age. A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015: 18) makes the point that: Designing policies that address ageing issues requires a deep understanding of local circum- stances, including communities’ economic assets, history and culture. The spatially heterogeneous nature of ageing trends makes it important to approach ageing from an urban perspective. Cities need to pay more attention to local circumstances to understand ageing, and its impact. They are espe- cially well equipped to address the issue, given their long experience of working with local communities and profound understanding of local problems. (emphasis added) This argument raises an important challenge for policies relating to aging and their impact on communities across the world. One significant policy response has come from the World Health Organization (WHO), through its approach to © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 D. Gu, M. E. Dupre (eds.), Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_1094-1