Creating Aging-friendly Communities

Creating Aging-Friendly Communities (CAFC) examines the need to redesign America's communities to respond to the realities of our rapidly aging society. The text focuses on the interface between individuals and their environments, and the ways in which communities can enhance individual and community well-being. What differentiates CAFC from other books is its breadth of focus, its comprehensive and evidence-based consideration of key concepts, its inclusion of social as well as physical infrastructure characteristics, and its intensive examination of models of community change for fostering aging-friendliness. It presents a conceptually and empirically-based model of aging-friendliness, identifies environmental modifications that could enhance individual and community well-being, outlines a typology of community change approaches, and considers the potential efficacy of those approaches. This book identifies practical implications for policies, programs, and knowledge development designed to help communities become more aging-friendly.

Andrew E. Scharlach, PhD, is Professor of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds the Eugene and Rose Kleiner Chair in Aging and directs the Gerontology specialization in the School of Social Welfare. He also serves as Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services, where he conducts research designed to inform development of innovative and cost-effective approaches for promoting the well-being of older adults and the communities in which they reside.

Amanda Lehning, PhD, MSW, is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work. She received her MSW from Bryn Mawr College and a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan, School of Social Work. Her research focuses on the effects of policies, programs, and neighborhood infrastructure on older adults' health, well-being, and the ability to age in place.