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Age Friendly City
An age friendly city is a place that encourages active aging by maximising opportunities for health, wellbeing, participation and social inclusion.
The City of Perth is keen to encourage a city that is accessible and inclusive of all people, including the diversity of older people living, working or visiting the central city
To understand the issues around making a city age-friendly, it is essential to hear from older city residents, workers and visitors. Following a program devised by the World Health Organization, the City of Perth asked older people, their carers, and service providers about their experiences of the age-friendliness of the central city and about priorities for an age-friendly future in relation to eight key areas;
- Outdoor spaces and buildings,
- Transportation,
- Housing,
- Social participation,
- Respect and social inclusion,
- Civic participation and employment,
- Communication and information, and
- Community support and health services.
Consultation
The City of Perth held a series of forums in 2011 with people 50 years or older, primary carers of older members of the community, and with relevant service providers.
Based on the World Health Organisation’s Age-friendly City methodology, 113 people shared their knowledge and views in seven community focus groups and 43 people in four service-provider focus groups.
In addition 355 people responded to the City’s Age-friendly city survey. 42% of survey respondents were visitors to the city, 32% live in the city and 25% work in the city.
What you told us
The City had an enthusiastic response to helping it to make Perth a more age-friendly city over the next 20 years. The key outcomes showed:
- The City of Perth received a good rating on how people use, live, work and enjoy the city.
- Top priorities for the future: Transport, Social Participation, and Housing.
- There is a diversity of older people. One size does not fit all in terms of how we live, how we recreate and how we exist as a community.
- There is a need to focus on supporting people to continue to live in the city, either in their own homes or appropriate accommodation, and supporting them to maintain good health and social interaction.
- Access to information is essential, to support participation in public life and enable access to services and facilities.
In total 15 Key Messages were highlighted as part of the consultation.
Consultation report
The City has gathered and analysed information based on consultation with the community. It has also undertaken a community profile to examine Perth’s changing population and the characteristics of its aged population. The consultation report is available to download by selecting the links below.
Sponsors and Partners
In working towards achieving an age-friendly Western Australia, the Department for Communities established a small grants program to encourage Local Government Authorities to undertake research, facilitate workshops and conduct other information-gathering exercises with the aim of incorporating age friendly practices into their Strategic Plan. The City of Perth, with this assistance has successfully completed the consultation phase of the program.
Where to next?
The next step for the City is to develop an Action Plan. It is an opportunity for the City to formalise the work it is already doing in this area, as well as show case new initiatives. The action plan will enable Council to prioritise the City’s actions.
Planning for ageing is the responsibility of all three levels of government, so the responsibility of the City does not stretch to actions across all priorities. Some will see a role for the City, while others will necessitate an advocacy function for the City in areas such as health, housing and transport.
Projects and initiatives
A key message of the consultation was the importance of social participation, of staying connected and taking part in community life.
This City has, with the assistance of the Department for Communities, developed a guide to assist with this by providing details about things to do in the city’s various precincts, how to get to them, where to eat and how to enjoy all the city has to offer. It also includes information about existing facilities, activities, services and other offerings available for older persons and their families.
We trust this guide provides you with information to access and enjoy all that is on offer within the City of Perth. The components of the guide are available to download here.
For a hard copy please contact the City at afc@cityofperth.wa.gov.au or telephone 9461 3136.
Other sources of information
World Health Organisation - Age-friendly Environments Programme:
http://www.who.int/ageing/age_friendly_cities/en/index.html
Department for Communities – Age Friendly WA:
http://www.communities.wa.gov.au/serviceareas/seniors/Pages/AgeFriendlyWA.aspx