Affordability and the relationship in the age-friendly cities and communities arena

In this Housing LIN Viewpoint (no 113), Professor Joost van Hoof, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and Dr Hannah R Marston, a Senior Research Fellow at The Open University, focus on the affordability and its relationship with age-friendly cities and communities, covered in further detail in Who Doesn’t Think About Financial Security When Designing Urban Environments for Older People?, the chapter in a new book on Society and Technology.

It highlights the overlooked role of affordability in creating age-friendly cities and communities. While the World Health Organization’s framework has guided global policy since 2007, financial security was never included as a core domain, despite its clear impact on daily life, wellbeing, and independence in later years.

Recent validation of the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire (AFCCQ) demonstrates that finance is often more influential than the original eight domains. The authors argue that without addressing affordability, urban environments risk excluding older people. Read on as they call for rigorous, evidence-based tools and policies that centre financial realities in age-friendly planning.