Age-friendly planning is an emerging area of practice that has increasing relevancy for communities across Canada. Municipalities such as the Township of Langley have embraced the notion of age-friendly communities, and have initiated processes to adapt their policies, plans, and programs to respond to the evolving needs of their residents.
Previously, the Township of Langley developed an Age-friendly Strategy according to the World Health Organization approach for cities. To develop the Strategy, the team looked at examples of age-friendly planning; reviewed existing policies and practices in the Township; and undertook considerable community engagement to ensure the Strategy was grounded in the priority issues of local residents and received buy-in and support from all possible partners. The Strategy was adopted in September 2014.
Building on this previous work, the Age-friendly Strategy Implementation Plan advances the Township’s age-friendly objectives by updating and refining the strategies previously developed and providing clear, straight-forward actions to successfully implement the Age-friendly Strategy. The specific actions identified through workshops, and other engagements, with Township staff, community partners and stakeholders help to reinforce a culture that allows for people to actively age with dignity, respect and independence.
The Implementation Plan framework required tools and approaches be developed to prioritize unique and diverse strategies so the Township could successfully implement a Plan that had achievable goals and measurable outcomes. The rigorous methodology developed involved creating a list of decision-making criteria against which each strategy was evaluated and empirically scored. These strategies were then reviewed, refined and tested further, resulting in a final prioritization list to be put into action.
Fully supported by Township Council, staff, and community partners, the Implementation Plan provides guidance for future policy development that will address the opportunities and challenges faced by an aging community.
For additional age-friendly projects please check out:
PROJECT TEAM:
Noha Sedky Ken Berglund