Beyond 50: A Report to the Nation on Livable Communities

Andrew Kochera and Audrey Straight of the  AARP Public Policy Institute and Thomas  Guterbock of the  University of Virginia are the authors of Beyond 50.05:  A Report to the Nation on Livable Communities: Creating Environments for Successful Aging.  The report:

This report, the fifth in AARP’s Beyond 50 series, presents a new agenda for examining, building and retrofitting our communities  to support successful aging. Specifically, it…

• explores how people age 50 and older can continue to be  independent and able to exercise choice and control in ways that are beneficial to and affordable for them and society
• demonstrates the connections among community engagement, housing, transportation, and successful aging
• highlights the consequences of community features that fail  to account for the diversity of, and continual change in, residents’ needs
• illustrates how persons age 50 and older contribute to, and  benefit from, well-designed communities that promote community engagement.

The Report features an interactive quiz for grading a community according to its “livability” for older individuals. 

Other “Beyond 50” reports are available from the Public Policy Institute at AARP.