THE GUARDIAN: What would an age-friendly city look like?

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Prof Chris Phillipson, of Manchester University’s Institute for Collaborative Research in Ageing and co-editor of Age-friendly Cities and communities: A Global Perspective, works with WHO to evaluate the programme’s progress, and says ageing populations need to be part of the debate about urban development: “New approaches are needed which link the advantages of living in cities with the needs and aspirations of older people themselves.”

But Professor Chris Phillipson says an age-friendly city needs to go far beyond work, housing and infrastructure to take in global factors such as climate change and pollution, to which older people are particularly vulnerable. Unless the bigger picture is tackled, Phillipson says, we are likely to see an increasingly unequal society in the future, with the elderly among those bearing the brunt. “There will be a significant number of people in their 50s still renting. One-third of over 50s don’t own property. They will have rented for a long time and won’t have equity or savings. Gentrification has also had an appalling effect on older people.”

One example is Berlin, where low-income flats are being sold to private developers, leading to rent increases that have made many areas unaffordable to older people.

“We need policies that have a real impact on the urban development that is taking place,” says Phillipson. “If the environment is hostile to people on low incomes, that impacts disproportionally on older residents. Cities must not think about housing and town planning policies in isolation. Age-friendliness needs to be part of the debate about urban development.”