Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Programme 2014 - 2020 ESPON 2020

Date of latest update: 2024-05-18

Description

Description (EN):

The European population is ageing rapidly, and this is particularly evident in the cities. According to Eurostat, the number of people aged 65 and over will almost double from 17% to 30% by 2060, and those aged 80 and over will rise from 5% to 12%. This significant demographic change is perceived as a major challenge for Europe’s social and health systems. The eight stakeholders involved in ACPA, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Hengelo, Greater Manchester, Nantes, Oslo and Zaragoza, have some of the highest percentages (>20%) of older people in their population in Europe, projected to increase to over 30% by 2030. These cities also experience increasing levels of transnational migration, spatial segregation, and pockets of deprivation, which impact on the lives of older people. Consequently, these cities need to adapt their policies and deliveries to better meet the needs of older residents. Many cities have started developing and implementing age-friendly programmes. However, the main challenge for cities is less that we are living longer, but more that we are spending too many of our old age years in an urban environment designed by and for a younger and economically active population. This is an issue which has become an increasing challenge to the EU, and a number of initiatives have recently been launched by the European Commission to create awareness and provide support in dealing with these challenges. ESPON ACPA will investigate the effectiveness of policies and initiatives to develop age-friendly cities and initiatives that support “ageing in place” in eight cities and city-regions. ACPA’s results will directly feed into the adaptation and development of policies and action plans related to age-friendly cities and social programmes including post-2020 cohesion policy.

Achievements (EN):

In an age-friendly city, inhabitants of all ages can live a happy life and enjoy a high quality of life at an advanced age. Different ways in which cities can become more age-friendly were researched in the ESPON ACPA Targeted Analysis on age-friendly cities, supporting the WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing The start of the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030) is accompanied by the Corona crisis. COVID-19 has hit our whole society, but older people in particular. The crisis has shown us that there is still much to improve in older people's resilience and the environment that should enable them to age healthy and actively. During the last year, the ESPON project ACPA uncovered different age-friendly policies from eight stakeholder cities in Europe. The final result describes good practices and policy recommendations at a European level and for the individual stakeholders' cities. The final results are released today and include the main report, the synthesis report with overarching recommendations, a policy handbook with practical, inspiring examples for urban authorities that deal with ageing populations, eight case studies of the stakeholder cities (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Greater Manchester, Hengelo, Nantes, Oslo and Zaragoza). How can a city become age-friendly? Recommendations from the ESPON ACPA study: A holistic approach: Age-friendly policies are an integrated whole. This is one of the main conclusions of the ESPON research on age-friendly cities. Policy initiatives generally cover multiple domains and have clear connections to multiple themes. A holistic and cross-sectoral perspective enables local authorities to see the full picture of age-friendly practices. When one organises social activities, it is important that people can reach these activities, so venues should be accessible and public transport should function properly. And enabling older people to exercise and get around, prevents health issues at later stages in life. Ambition: cities should develop a long-term strategy towards 2030. Many cities currently do not have such a strategy yet. It should link their vision to strategic and tactical goals – ensuring stability and a higher probability of steady change. Furthermore, such a strategy should acknowledge the urban dimension of ageing, paying attention to issues such as differences between neighbourhoods, scarcity of space and the diversity of stakeholders and population groups. Engagement: active involvement of older people during the design and implementation of these policies is one of the keys to success. Getting a seniors' perspective on what improvements are needed is essential for the policy development process. Involvement of all relevant stakeholders is also key. Interest groups, civil society organisations, community workers, health organisations, leisure and sports facilities and restaurants should collectively develop the necessary long-term and holistic strategy. In the end, age-friendly policies should revolve around improving the quality of life for people of all ages. Commitment: Political commitment and funding are determinants for the success of age-friendly policies. Initiatives are often fairly easy to set up as long as there is a political will to support these initiatives. For many cities, it helps to join one of the European and international networks on age-friendly policies. A collective approach towards all relevant European institutions to highlight the importance of population ageing is also paramount. This assures the topic remains on the policy agenda and helps to structure the efforts towards becoming more age-friendly. Proper monitoring and evaluation of initiatives can also help to maintain political goodwill and momentum. Positivity: raise public awareness about the different aspects of ageing. Ageing is sometimes seen very negatively and misunderstood. Ageism and negative stereotypes about ageing are problematic as they can constitute barriers to developing an age-friendly society. Information: More should be invested to raise awareness across the whole society to understand what ageing means and how it can be supported. For instance, when shop keepers would know more about dementia, they may be better able to spot and counteract problems that dementia sufferers are coping with. And when younger generations are more aware of the precautions they can take to facilitate healthy and active ageing, they will profit from that directly, and society will profit from that indirectly through lower healthcare costs. Eight stakeholders from six countries asked ESPON to deliver evidence and policy recommendations on the effectiveness of policies and initiatives to develop age-friendly cities and initiatives that support "ageing in place". ACPA’s results directly feed into the adaptation and development of policies and action plans related to age-friendly cities and social programmes including post-2020 cohesion policy.

Website: https://archive.espon.eu/

Expected Results (EN):

The European population is ageing rapidly and this is particularly evident in the cities. According to an OECD study, the number of older people increased by 23.8% in OECD metropolitan areas between 2001 and 20111, which is predicted to be further accentuated in the coming decades. Importantly, more people than ever before will be older and most of them will grow old living in cities. Eurostat is predicting that the number of people aged 65 and over will almost double from 17% to 30% by 2060, and those aged 80 and over will rise from 5% to 12%. This significant demographic change is perceived as a major challenge for Europe’s social and health systems. An ageing population can bring along high levels of health and social inequalities among older citizens. Many are living alone, a characteristic which often causes social isolation, loneliness and dependency. The cities of Barcelona, Zaragoza, Gothenburg, Hengelo, Oslo, Greater Manchester, Amsterdam and Nantes, who are involved in this activity, have some of the highest percentages (>20%) of older people in their population in Europe, projected to increase to over 30% by 2030. These cities also experience increasing levels of transnational migration, spatial segregation, and pockets of deprivation, which impact on the lives of older people. Consequently, these cities need to adapt their policies and deliveries to better meet the needs of older residents. Many cities have started developing and implementing age-friendly programmes. However, the main challenge for cities is less that we are living longer, but more that we are spending too many of our old age years in an urban environment designed by and for a younger and economically active population. This is an issue which has become an increasing challenge to the EU, and a number of initiatives have recently been launched by the European Commission to create awareness and provide support in dealing with these challenges. A key initiative is the “European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP AHA)”. This initiative was launched in 2011 aiming at promoting healthy and active ageing as well as the long-term sustainability and efficiency of the health and social care systems. Its overarching target is to increase the average healthy lifespan of EU citizens by two years by the year 2020. EIP AHA has been followed by the launch of the “EU Covenant on Demographic Change” in 2015 with a goal to engage local and regional authorities and other relevant stakeholders in developing Terms of Reference: “Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing (ACPA)” environments supporting active and healthy ageing. Most of the cities involved in the ACPA targeted analysis are engaged with one or both initiatives. The ACPA targeted analysis will study the effectiveness and impact of urban ageing policy. This issue has a distinct, yet most often neglected, territorial aspect at European scale. ESPON has addressed the territorial challenges of demographic change at the European scale (e.g. DEMIFER), but there is still a knowledge gap as regards to how cities adapt to an ageing population in practice. Hence, this activity will look at how ageing is experienced in each territory and how it is affected by pressures arising from social exclusion, spatial inequality, employment, migration, and social mobility. ACPA will contribute to support the eight cities involved to identify and realise their potentials, and at the same time understand the restrictions of the urban environments for older people both physical and social. ACPA’s results will be relevant to many other European cities. Policies and systems may differ significantly between territories, but ACPA will allow cities to understand better how and why some ageing urban policies are being successful and others less so, and how they could be adapted to different territories. This will require an approach that on the one hand is vertical, i.e. looking across different policy domains, and on the other hand is horizontal, i.e. looking into multi-governance structures and practices. Results from existing ESPON evidence should be taken into consideration in the implementation of this targeted analysis. The most relevant evidence to be considered are the ongoing “European Territorial Reference Framework” applied research on future cohesion policy post-2020; DEMIFER on demographic and migratory flows; SeGi on indicators and perspectives for services of general interest in territorial cohesion and development; TANGO on territorial approaches in new governance; SPIMA targeted analysis on spatial dynamics and strategic planning in metropolitan areas.

Thematic information

Demographic change and immigration

Specific Objective: Upgraded knowledge transfer and use of analytical user support

Thematic Objective:

(11) enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration through actions to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and public services related to the implementation of the ERDF, and in support of actions under the ESF to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administration.

Investment Priority: (11 ETC) ETC specific for transnational cooperation: enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration by developing and coordinating macro-regional and sea-basin strategies

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: ECORYS

Address: Watermanweg 44, 3067 Rotterdam, Netherlands

Legal status: private

Nordregio

Name: Nordregio

Address: Box 1658, SE-111 86Stockholm, Sweden

Legal status: public

Ecorys Ltd.

Name: Ecorys Ltd.

Address: Albert House, Quay Place 92-93, B1 2RA Birmingham, United Kingdom

Legal status: private

Ecorys Espana Lyda

Name: Ecorys Espana Lyda

Address: Paseo de la Castellana 140 Planta 13, 28046 Madrid, Spain

Legal status: private

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

ECORYS

Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Partners and Projects info

Nordregio

Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Partners and Projects info

Ecorys Ltd.

Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Partners and Projects info

Ecorys Espana Lyda

Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Project acronym: ACPA

Project start date: 2019-01-09

Project end date: 2020-06-16

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 248 972.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 203 585.40

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 203 585.40.

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Videos / films

Piera Petruzzi: Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2019-07-02

Languages: en

Thijs Fikken: Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2019-07-02

Languages: en

Presentations

Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing (ACPA)

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Presentation

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-06-16

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Reports

Final Report

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-22

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Synthesis report

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-03-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Scientific annex: research methodology

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-03-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Annex: Demographic maps and figures

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Amsterdam City

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Barcelona

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-24

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Gothenburg

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-03-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Greater Manchester

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-11-12

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Hengelo

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Nantes

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Oslo

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-23

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Case Study Report: Zaragoza

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-04-28

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Brochures / magazines / manuals

Supporting the WHO’s decade of healthy and inclusive urban ageing: a policy handbook

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Brochure / magazine / manual

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/ACPA

Publication date: 2021-01-25

Document date: 2020-11-12

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 ESPON 2020

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2024-03-04

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

68 / 69 (98.55%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

353 / 370 (95.41%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Data from 3 projects ((MRS. ESPON TOOL, SoET and CPS 2.0) was retrieved by Interact from the programme´s website on the 2024-03-01. Regarding partners only data only main partners is available. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://www.espon.eu), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-09-21 and 2023-01-03.

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Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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