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Nordic network for age-friendly cities and communities

Older adults

We are living longer in the Nordic region, and the proportion of older adults in the population is growing. An age-friendly environment is a place where getting older is a good thing. It is an environment with no physical and social barriers, one that promotes a healthy and happy life in which it is possible to maintain life-long physical and mental capacity. It is a place where it is possible to keep doing the things that make life worth living, even if with age you experience changed conditions for participation, both social and physical.

Since 2017, the Nordic Welfare Centre has been coordinating the Nordic Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. The cities in the network have committed to adopting a long-term, cross-sectoral approach in order to become a better place in which to age. The purpose of the network is to share knowledge and inspiration and, not least, practical solutions between the participants and across the Nordic countries. The network is also helping to stimulate the emergence of socially sustainable, age-friendly environments and cities, and is leading the way in developments towards making the Nordic region an even better place in which to age.

The network includes Oslo, Stavanger, Trondheim, The Centre for an Age-friendly Norway, Esbjerg, Botkyrka, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Halstahammar, Stockholm, Gävle, Söderhamn, Upplands-Bro, Östersund, Tampere, Turku and Reykjavik. The cities in the network are members of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global network, Age-friendly cities and communities.

Older adults must be included

The sustainable development of cities and communities requires broad-based, inclusive work across actors at national, regional, municipal and local level. One of the basic principles is also to listen to, involve and empower older adults. If development work is to succeed, older adults need to participate on equal terms. By including older adults in planning the cities and communities of the future, the Nordic countries can boost their capacity to adapt to demographic change.

The WHO has identified eight interrelated areas with which an age-friendly city or community should work. These are:

community and health care
transportation
housing
social participation
outdoor space and buildings
respect and social inclusion
civic participation and employment, and
communication and information.

The work of the Nordic Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities supports the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030 for the Nordic region to become the world’s most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. These activities are also in line with Goal 11 of Agenda 2030 for sustainable cities and communities. The Nordic Welfare Centre is also working with the WHO’s Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021–2030, which brings together different actors that are working to improve life as an older adult on a global level.