AARP International
AARP International

September 24, 2020

Enable by Design & Drive Informed Demand

  • Universal Design
  • Dementia
  • Environmental Press
  • Visitability
  • Aging in Place

Individuals and families have a right to expect living environments that are safe and enabling across the lifespan. Built environment professionals should create housing and communities that enable people to function well within their abilities at every age. Innovations that advance this goal should become the norm and not the exception.

The Challenge

The status quo of our housing and communities is largely "dis-abling," yet other options are limited as is consumer demand.

The Principle

Built environment professionals should design housing and communities to enable people of all ages and abilities to function at their highest levels, and drive consumer demand by demonstrating innovations that advance this goal.

Featured Speakers

  • Dr. Mariela Alfonzo, Founder and CEO, State of Place
  • Henry Cisneros, Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Co-Chief Investment Officer and Chairman, American Triple I Partners
  • Ifeoma Ebo, Urban Designer, Strategist and Founding Director of Creative Urban Alchemy
  • Dr. Bill Thomas, Lifesprk Independence Officer; Cofounder, ChangingAging (Moderator)
  • Stephanie Firestone, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, Health & Age-friendly Communities, AARP (host)
  • Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist and Environmental Gerontologist; and Strategic Director, TC Age Friendly Center for Excellence (Introductory Remarks)

October 22, 2020

Alleviate Disparities

  • Aging in Place
  • Low-income
  • LGBTQ+

Low-income and minority communities disproportionately struggle to attain basic health, safety, and wellbeing. Built environment professionals should prioritize the creation and maintenance of enabling built environments in disproportionately impacted communities, as a vehicle for properly addressing the needs of disadvantaged residents and alleviating disparities.

The Challenge

We shall prioritize the creation and maintenance of enabling built environments in disproportionately impacted communities, as a vehicle for properly addressing the needs of disadvantaged residents and alleviating disparities.

The Principle

Built environment professionals should design housing and communities to enable people of all ages and abilities to function at their highest levels, and drive consumer demand by demonstrating innovations that advance this goal.

Featured Speakers

  • Dr. Antwi Akom, Professor and Founding Director of the Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab (SOUL), University of California San Francisco, CEO and Cofounder, Streetwyze
  • Stacey Epperson, President and Founder, Next Step
  • Paul Williams, President and CEO of Project for Pride in Living
  • Dr. Bill Thomas, Lifesprk Independence Officer; Cofounder, ChangingAging (Moderator)
  • Stephanie Firestone, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, Health & Age-friendly Communities, AARP (Host)
  • Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist and Environmental Gerontologist; and Strategic Director, TC Age Friendly Center for Excellence (Introductory Remarks)

November 19, 2020

Create Appropriate Finance Products

  • Housing Finance
  • Housing Justice
  • Low-income
  • LIHTC

Low-income and minority communities disproportionately struggle to attain basic health, safety, and wellbeing. Built environment professionals should prioritize the creation and maintenance of enabling built environments in disproportionately impacted communities, as a vehicle for properly addressing the needs of disadvantaged residents and alleviating disparities.

The Challenge

Financial products are restrictive, for example by not fully accounting for people's assets, such as incomes of multiple people living in a dwelling, or for hidden costs and impacts, such as the future value of modified assets.

The Principle

We shall pursue the expansion of existing, and the development of new, financial models and products to facilitate investment in housing stock and communities that enable independence over the lifespan and view lifelong, multigenerational living environments as an asset.

Featured Speakers

  • Jennifer Ho, Commissioner, Minnesota Housing
  • Feras Qumseya, Vice President of Development, Foulger-Pratt
  • Dr. Raquel Rolnik, Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo
  • Dr. Bill Thomas, Lifesprk Independence Officer; Cofounder, ChangingAging (Moderator)
  • Stephanie Firestone, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, Health & Age-friendly Communities, AARP (Host)
  • Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist and Environmental Gerontologist; and Strategic Director, TC Age Friendly Center for Excellence (Introductory Remarks)

December 17, 2020

Prioritize Connectivity

  • Internet of Things
  • Digital Society
  • Equity
  • Inclusion
  • Inclusive
  • Access

Built environment professionals must prioritize the provision of broadband access and appropriate technologies that enable telehealth and remote learning, work, and engagement, as a means to facilitate greater independence and participation by residents of all ages and abilities in all aspects of society.

The Challenge

Technology limitations include broadband in rural areas, technology among the poor, and digital literacy among older adults. These limitations in turn restrict access to health care, opportunity, and remote engagement.

The Principle

We must prioritize the provision of broadband access and appropriate technologies that enable telehealth and remote learning, work, and engagement, as a means to facilitate greater independence and participation by residents of all ages and abilities in all aspects of society.

Featured Speakers

  • Dr. Joseph Coughlin, Founder and Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab; Member, AARP Board of Directors
  • Justin Garrett Moore, Program Officer, Mellon Foundation
  • Dr. Victor Santiago Pineda, President of World Enabled; Lecturer, College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley
  • Dr. Bill Thomas, Lifesprk Independence Officer; Cofounder, ChangingAging (Moderator)
  • Stephanie Firestone, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, Health & Age-friendly Communities, AARP (Host)
  • Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist and Environmental Gerontologist; and Strategic Director, TC Age Friendly Center for Excellence (Introductory Remarks)

January 14, 2021

Facilitate Intergenerational Engagement

  • Collaboration
  • Sustainability
  • Community

Built environment professionals should create living environments that facilitate regular interaction and engagement across all generations, for their mutual benefit and the continued contribution to society by people of all ages, and to combat ageism.

The Challenge

A lack of opportunities for people to regularly interact with people in other generations, i.e., intergenerational interaction, perpetuates the generational discord and ageism that are endemic to society.

The Principle

We shall create living environments that facilitate engagement across all generations, for their mutual benefit and the continued contribution to society by people of all ages. This familiarity will also serve to combat ageist stereotypes.

Featured Speakers

  • Donna Butts, Executive Director, Generations United
  • Dr. Emi Kiyota, Founder and Director, Ibasho
  • Dr. Bill Thomas, Lifesprk Independence Officer; Cofounder, ChangingAging (Moderator)
  • Stephanie Firestone, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, Health & Age-friendly Communities, AARP (Host)
  • Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist and Environmental Gerontologist; and Strategic Director, TC Age Friendly Center for Excellence (Introductory Remarks)

February 25, 2021

Include Age-Friendliness in Other Priorities & Lead Cross-Sector Collaboration

  • Planning
  • Zoning
  • Land Use
  • Communities
  • Community Assessment
  • Healthy Aging
  • Public Health

Built environment professionals should utilize planning and other collaborative tools to advance developments that demonstrate an active contribution to societal agendas, and they should tap existing efforts to advance UN Sustainable Development goals as opportunities to regenerate and retrofit our built environment assets using a lifelong equity lens.

The Challenge

Global as well as local priorities such as climate resilience, healthcare, and other efforts to advance UN Sustainable Development Goals, fail to fully consider and address the major demographic change of population aging, often treating these as disparate concerns.

The Principle

We shall tap existing efforts to advance UN Sustainable Development Goals, as opportunities in a post-COVID-19 world to regenerate and retrofit our built environment assets using a lifelong lens.

Featured Speakers

  • Dr. Jennifer Molinsky, Senior Research Associate, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
  • Gaetan Siew, Founder of the Global Creative Leadership Initiative; Past President of the International Union of Architects; Past Secretary-General of the African Union of Architects
  • Naomi Hoogervorst, Senior Programme Manager at UN-Habitat
  • Dr. Bill Thomas, Lifesprk Independence Officer; Cofounder, ChangingAging (Moderator)
  • Stephanie Firestone, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, Health & Age-friendly Communities, AARP (Host)
  • Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist and Environmental Gerontologist; and Strategic Director, TC Age Friendly Center for Excellence (Introductory Remarks)

We want to hear from you!

Got a topic you wany to learn more about?
An innovation we should feature?
Want to collaborate or obtain more information?

Contact Stephanie K. Firestone Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, AARP International.

Contact Stephanie

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