Aging In Place: Making Communities More Livable for Older People

Organization:

Partners for Livable Communities

Publisher/Date:

Partners for Livable Communities, 2005

Rating:

Limited Usefulness

Abstract:

Aging in Place: Making Communities More Livable for Older People is a "How To" manual for groups advocating “aging in Place”. At the same time, the background material would be useful for pedestrian advocacy groups in that a principal beneficiary of well designed sidewalks are older people. To that end, several sections of this book have fodder for making the argument for well designed pedestrian ways. The section titled “Transportation” (page 58 ff) contains statistics about folks 65 and older, the percent that are non-drivers and their behavior characteristics.

Unfortunately, the book does not go into the qualitative features that make a good pedestrians environment. While it does mention that a design should allow for wheelchairs and scooters, the book does not adequately portray the many other aspects of well-designed pedestrian ways -- surface treatments and condition, wayfinding, resting spots, etc. At the minimum, it should have suggested sources in the bibliography sections that could serve as guidelines. Better yet would have been an expanded Transportation section, with a more detailed listing of desirable design features. The addition of this material in future editions of this book would increase its usefulness.

Number of Pages:

163

Table of Contents?

Yes

Index?

No

Illustrations?

Yes

Material Type:

Book

Key Document?

No

Categories:

Guidelines, Policy, Advocacy, Planning

Record Last Updated:

July 2006