EUROCITIES Social Affairs Forum
Utrecht, 7-8 March 2018
Updates from WG Urban Ageing
Wednesday, 7 March, 16:00-17:30
Venue: Tivoli Vredenburg, Vredenburgkade11
1. Working group urban ageing – 26-27 January 2017, Leeds
The meeting in Leeds took place on 26-27 January 2017. The participantslearned more on how the city of Leeds is tackling loneliness, its activities for culture addressedto elderly, and the link with smart city initiatives. Find more information here.
2. Working group urban ageing – 19 May 2017, Brussels
The WG Urban Ageing met on 19 May in Brussels, the day after participants attended the conference ‘Innovation in Care: How to improve quality of life and services for an ageing population?’. The WG also had a discussion with Diane Wu from the WHO, who presented how cities can contribute to the 10 priorities for a decade of Healthy Ageing. More info here.
3. Working group urban ageing - 23-24 October 2017, Gothenburg
The meeting gathered 11 cities to discuss transport, accessibility and technology for the elderly. The chair of the working group barrier-free city for all, Berlin, joined the meeting and brought a transversal dimension from the EUROCITIES Mobility Forum. The meeting included a trip on the ElectriCity - an age-friendly electric bus with calm driving and which lowers its speed in densely populated areas - and on the “Flexline” - special small buses that can park closer to one’s house and guaranteeing a seat. Participants also learned about the global strategy of ‘Age-friendly Gothenburg’ and exchanged experiences on similar projects in their cities. The WG also decided to apply for a common proposal for a ESPON project. The application comprises 8 cities from the WG and was submitted on 25 January.Read more
4. ESPON application
In January 2018, eight members of WG Urban Ageing (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Hengelo, Manchester, Nantes, Oslo and Zaragoza) submitted a proposalfor a ESPON targeted analysis on ‘adapting European cities to popular ageing: policy challenges and best practice’. The proposed research would touch upon a multi-method investigation into the effectiveness of policies to develop age-friendly cities and approaches that support ‘ageing in place’ in eight cities in Europe. In particular, it aims to investigate urban-ageing experiences relating to social exclusion, employment and skills, emerging healthcare innovations, spatial inequality, transnational migration, impact of geographical, social and economic mobility.
5. European Parliament adopts resolution on cohesion policy and demographic change
On 14 November, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on ‘deployment of cohesion policy instruments by regions to address demographic change’. The resolution recognises that demographic change is an issue for local development and places pressure on local authorities’ services, especially welfare and social services. The Parliament proposes tackling this issue in a coordinated manner through multi-level governance and involving local stakeholders and authorities in all stages of European and Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) programming and implementation to better anticipate the effects of demographic change on local labour markets. Other proposals relevant for cities include:
- setting up networks at a pan-European level to exchange good practices between regional and local authorities on how to address issues created by demographic change
- making CLLD obligatory across all ESFI funds, including ESF and ERDF
- adding a demographic indicator and the EU Regional Social Progress Index to the criteria for the allocation of cohesion policy funds, which is currently only considering the GDP
6. Active and assisted living programme (AAL)
The Active and Assisted Living (AAL) programme funds projects in public-private partnership in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) for active and healthy ageing.The topic of the 2018 call is: “Smart Solutions for Ageing well”. Deadline: 28 May 2018. Read more here.
7. Working plan for 2018:
-continue to be the voice of cities in the policy dialogue concerning ageing in EU, through participation by WG members in EU projects, thematic conferences, workshops and debates.
-continue to strengthen the WG both existing and new members through relevant WG meetings, site visits, exchanges of good practices and project collaboration.
-engage in more EU projects related to ageing, such as ESPON project and/ or relevant Horizon 2020 calls
-continue the collaboration with the WHO on urban ageing under the auspices of the global network of age-friendly cities and communities. Invite them to meetings and strengthen the European memberships of the WHO network, hereby consider possible collaboration with AGE Platform and the Covenant on demographic change
-continue working with the European Commission on active and healthy ageing, through the EIP on Active and Healthy ageing where EUROCITIES is a member of action group D4 on age-friendly environments.
Upcoming WG meetings:- WG meeting -22-23 March, Vienna. Topic: dialogue between generations, dementia-friendly environments and services for older persons with migration.
- Conference of Partners of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing -27-28 February, Brussels.
- Conference of European Senior Union and Youth EPP (YEPP) for the European Day of Solidarity between the Generations - 29 April, Brussels.
- European Silver Economy Awards Ceremony -3 May, Brussels. Register here.
This event has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). For further information, please consult: