SILVER HUESBUILDING AGE-READY CITIESMaitreyi Bordia Das Yuko Arai Terri B. Chapman Vibhu JainPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure Authorized 2022 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: worldbankSome rights reservedThis work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. 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The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of any third-party owned individual component or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of those third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re-use a component of the work, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that re-use and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not limited to, tables, figures, or images.All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: pubrightsworldbank.Cover and chapter opener photo: Victor Popovic, Slovak Republic, Untitled, 2000, mixed media and collage Image courtesy of the World Bank Group Art Program.Cover design: Takayo Muroga FredericksBUILDING AGE-READY CITIESSILVER HUESMaitreyi Bordia Das Yuko Arai Terri B. Chapman Vibhu JainIIISILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESContentsAbbreviations VForeword VIAcknowledgments VIIExecutive Summary 1Chapter 1: Introduction 13Why focus on age-ready cities? 15COVID-19 and the heightened case for age-readiness 19Audience, methodology, and roadmap 20Chapter 2: Global Trends in Aging: Why They Matter for Cities 23Aging and urbanization 26Aging across income levels 29Who are older persons? 32Conclusion 35Chapter 3: Building Age-Ready Cities 37Universal design toward age-readiness 41Housing solutions for age-readiness 45Mixing it up: Creating multigenerational “spaces” toward age-readiness 47Getting around: Age-readiness through improved transportation 50Making technology work for age-readiness 53Efficient spatial forms: What can they mean for age-readiness? 57Conclusion 59Chapter 4: City for All: Vision and Actions toward Age-Readiness 61Progress toward age-readiness 66How can cities advance toward age-readiness? 68Conclusion 70Endnotes 73References 75IVSILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESFigures Figure E.1. Why Focus on Age-Ready Cities? 4Figure E.2. Attributes of Age-Ready Cities 6 Figure E.3. Six Action Areas to Enhance Age-Readiness in Cities 7Figure E.4. Six Steps toward Age-Readiness 10Figure 1.1. Why Focus on Age-Ready Cities? 16Figure 2.1. Aging of the World Population, 20002050 24Figure 2.2. Regional Variation in Aging, 19692050 25Figure 2.3. Global Growth in Urbanization, 19502050 26Figure 2.4. The Confluence of Aging and Urbanization 27Figure 2.5. Median Age of the Population Is Rising with the Share of population 28 in Urban Areas Figure 2.6. Urbanization Rates by Income Levels 29Figure 2.7. Aging Populations by Country Income Group 30Figure 2.8. Population Projections for Older Persons by Income Group, 20202100 31Figure 2.9. Female-Male Ratio of Older Persons in Top Four Aging Countries 32Figure 3.1. Attributes of Age-Ready Cities 39 Figure 3.2. Six Action Areas to Enhance Age-Readiness in Cities 40Figure B3.1.1. Young and Older Persons as a Share of the Total Population 44 in GCC Countries, 20002050 Figure 4.1. Six Steps toward Age-Readiness 68Boxes Box 3.1. Aging Cities: Building on Innovation and Productivity in the GCC Countries 44Box 3.2. Mobility Patterns of Older Persons in Delhi and Nairobi 51Box 3.3. MyCiti Rapid Bus Transit System in Cape Town 52Box 3.4. Startups Driving Technological Solutions toward Age-Readiness 54Box 4.1. Safety of Older Persons in an Age-Ready City 62Box 4.2. Restaurant of Mistaken Orders 64Box 4.3. Social Enterprises to Meet the Needs of Aging Populations 65Tables Table 3.1. Government and Civil Society Support for Older Persons 49 during the COVID-19 Pandemic Table 4.1. Illustrative Actions in Six Thematic Areas 66VSILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESAbbreviationsAI Artificial intelligenceASEAN Association of Southeast Asian NationsBRT Bus rapid transitCOVID Coronavirus diseaseEAP East Asia and PacificECA Europe and Central AsiaEU European UnionGCC Gulf Cooperation CouncilGROWS Grass Roots Organization for the Well-being of SeniorsICT Information and communications technologyLAC Latin America and the CaribbeanMENA Middle East and North AfricaOECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOPG Older Peoples Group (India)PWDs People with disabilitiesSAR South Asia RegionSDGs Sustainable Development GoalsSE Social enterpriseSSA Sub-Saharan AfricaTOD Transit-oriented developmentUAE United Arab EmiratesUD Universal designUK United KingdomUKAID United Kingdom Aid DirectUN/DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social AffairsVWO Voluntary welfare organizationWHO World Health OrganizationVISILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESForewordCities across the world are growing older. Individuals aged 65 years or over are expected by mid-century to outnumber children under five by a ratio of two to one, and they will be living in an increasingly urbanized world, with 80 percent residing in low- and middle- income countries. These countries will also likely experience aging at a faster pace than has occurred in developed countries, and they will do so against a backdrop of underdeveloped infrastructure, lower levels of national income, and weaker social protection systems. But despite these challenges, aging is a predictable reality, so planning and the implementation of actions toward age-readiness are possible.“Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities” is intended as a roadmap for cities and towns as they prepare for an older urban age. It comes at a time of increasing attention to age-readiness in cities, especially in light of the global pandemic and the particular vulnerability that older persons have faced. But it is not just older persons that benefit from age-readiness. Rather, this report illustrates that an age-ready city is a city for allthat it has universal benefits and is conducive to better living for groups besides older persons. Therefore, we invite countries across the worldthose aging and those not yet agingto think about how the cities and towns can be planned and designed for an age-ready future. We hope this report will spur discussions across countries and serve as a useful reference for policymakers, city leaders, and implementing agencies in all World Bank regions, as well as to researchers, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and communities.Sameh Wahba Global Director for the World Banks Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global PracticeVIISILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESAcknowledgments“Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities” was written by a team led by Maitreyi Bordia Das and Yuko Arai, with Terri B. Chapman and Vibhu Jain as core members, under the guidance of Sameh Wahba, Global Director of the World Banks Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice. Background papers that informed the report were developed by Ilinca Paun Constantinescu,Myounggu Kang,Zina Macri,Vera Marin, Oto Novacek, Sande Sandra, Federico Bervejillo Terra, Jasmine Susanna Tillu, andBelinda Yuen. Special thanks are due to Ibrahim Ali Khan and Anna Rachael Miller, who supported the team with background research. This report also benefited from excellent advice from peer reviewers: Dean Cira, Olivia DAoust, Elena Glinskaya, Charlotte Vuyiswa McClain-Nhlapo, and Gayatri Singh. Others who provided comments on the background papers were Vladimir Benc, Carli Bunding-Venter, Narae Choi, Wanli Fang, Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu, Emi Kiyota, Maria Elena Garcia Mora, Victor Mulas, Gayatri Singh, Dmitry Sivaev, Hoon Sahib Soh, Bogdan Topan, Dewen Wang, and Xueman Wang.The team is also grateful to Fernando Alonso, Sabina Espinoza, Francis Ghesquiere, Paul Kriss, Phoram Shah, Eliana Pires de Souza, and Horacio Terraza for their inputs to, and facilitation of, this report and to Sameh Wahba for his comments on various drafts. The team extends their appreciation to Anna Wellenstein for her support during the initiation stages of the work. Adelaide Barra provided administrative support, Lisa Ferraro Parmelee gave editorial support, and Takayo Muroga Fredericks designed the report. We end with a final word of gratitude to the World Bank Art Program, Michelle Morandotti and the Tokyo Development Learning Center.Executive Summary1SILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESMain messages 1. The world is becoming increasingly urban and older. This growing confluence of urbanization and aging is uneven, and cities and countries are at different points on the two trajectories.2. Since aging is a dynamic yet linear and relatively predictable process, age-readiness can, with the requisite political will, technical expertise, and creative use of resources, be planned for and implemented.3. Older persons constitute a growing market for goods and services related to health care, leisure, and information and communications technology (ICT). But they are a diverse group, differing not only by the countries and cities in which they live, but by income, wealth, gender, age, ethnicity, and disability status, among other attributes. The profile of older persons in a city or neighborhood affects the demand for city infrastructure and services and the manner in and extent to which they contribute to the economy and society.4. Cities and towns are enablers that provide opportunities for older persons to lead full, productive, and dignified lives, but they also present insurmountable barriers unless their leaders make intentional investments in age-readiness.5. Actions that lead to age-readiness are not just good for older persons; they create public goods with wide-ranging social and economic advantages that benefit, for instance, persons with disabilities, persons carrying heavy loads, or those who may be temporarily disabled by illness.6. Cities can make progress toward age-readiness, especially in the built environment, with the help of actions in six areas: universal design, housing solutions, multigenerational spaces, physical mobility, technology, and efficient spatial forms. 2SILVER HUES BUILDING AGE-READY CITIESIntroductionCities and countries the world over are at the cusp of epochal global trends whose impacts are likely to be more intense and more far-reaching than those of similar trends in the past. The simultaneity of the demographic transition, deepening urbanization, a technological revolution, frequent shocks brought on by health and climate emergencies, mean that we will need to plan for an older and more urban future.Cities are often identified by their age profiles: they are reified as “young cities” or “old cities.” This is because city leaders are cognizant of the profiles of their constituencies, and the demographic profile of a city has a bearing on the demands on its leaders and on the policies and programs they put into place. Awareness of the demographic profile is not enough to spur action in response to demographic change, though. That awareness needs to be accompanied by concrete steps taken through policies and programs.Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities is intended as a policy document that helps articulate the idea of “age-readiness” while building on the idea of “age-friendliness.” It highlights the varied trajectories of aging and urbanization and draws on the experiences of older and more urban countries to show how others can become “age-ready.” It is intended for cities and towns as they prepare for an older urban age, offering examples and options to help younger cities visualize age-readiness while focusing primarily on the built urban environment. Its main audience is intended to be policymakers, city leaders, and implementing agencies, but it is also expected be useful to researchers, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and communities.This report fills four gaps in the policy literature on aging: The literature so far has focused on the dependency ratio and its impact on the economic growth of aging economies, on social protection, especially in terms of pensions and the health and care needs of aging countries. It has not paid attention to urban planning and governance in the wake of demographic changes. The policy literature has focused on the implications of aging at the national, subnational, and regional levels but not at the city level. Even such literature as exists on aging in urban areas comes mainly from countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) because rates of both aging and urbanization are high in