Ahead of the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Population Ageing, Quyen Ngoc Tran, co-lead of its Age-Friendly Societies sub-theme, explores how communities across the region can enable people of all ages to participate, contribute and live with dignity throughout their lives.
When we talk about age-friendly societies, the conversation often turns quickly to ramps, handrails, accessible transport and care services. These are important, but they represent only part of a much bigger ambition.
An age-friendly society is one in which people can participate, contribute and live with dignity throughout their lives. It is not a society designed exclusively for older people. It is one that recognises how our needs and circumstances change as we age, and plans for those changes from the outset.
Designing for longer lives benefits everyone. A pavement that is safe for an older person using a walking frame is also safer for a child. Accessible public transport supports people with limited mobility as well as parents travelling with young children. Local services that allow an older person to remain independent can also make daily life easier for families and carers.
This is why age-friendly planning should not sit at the margins of public policy. It should influence how we design neighbourhoods, housing, transport, health systems, public spaces and responses to climate change.
What to expect from this year’s Asia-Pacific ageing conference
As countries across Asia-Pacific respond to population ageing, this year’s regional conference focuses on practical solutions — from care and economic change to technology and inclusive societies.
In this interview, Eduardo Klien (Asia-Pacific Regional Convening Lead) explains the priorities shaping the discussions and what participants can expect.
The neighbourhood is where policies meet people’s everyday lives. It determines whether someone can buy food, attend a health appointment, meet other people, use public transport or reach a green space without facing unnecessary barriers.
Rather than beginning with the question, “What special services do older people need?”, policymakers and planners should consider what enables people of all ages to access essential services while maintaining their independence.
This changes how we understand age-friendly development. It is not simply about providing additional services for one section of the population. It is about designing places in which people can continue to participate in community life, even as their mobility, health or caring responsibilities change.
China’s “15-minute life circles” demonstrate the potential of this approach. They aim to provide access to services such as older people’s care, childcare, healthcare and cultural facilities within a short walk. By bringing everyday services closer to people, the model responds to needs shared across generations, including safe public spaces, accessible facilities and walkable neighbourhoods.
When communities are built around people’s daily lives rather than principally around vehicles and commuting, they can become healthier, more connected and more resilient.
Bring generations together
Age-friendly societies must also create opportunities for generations to meet, support one another and share community life. Too often, services and spaces are organised in ways that separate people according to age. This can reinforce the idea that older people are primarily recipients of support rather than active members of their communities.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, intergenerational approaches are beginning to challenge this assumption.
China’s “one old, one young” hubs bring services for older and younger generations into shared spaces. Other models include combined childcare and older people’s care facilities, intergenerational housing and “shared grandmother” programmes through which older people contribute to childcare. These approaches recognise that older people bring knowledge, experience, stability and practical support to families and communities.
Bringing generations together is not only about companionship. It can help communities address several challenges at once, from social isolation and ageism to pressure on families providing care. It also creates more opportunities for people to understand ageing as a normal part of life rather than something distant from their own experience.
Connect ageing and climate action
The way societies respond to climate change must also reflect the realities of population ageing.
Extreme heat, flooding, air pollution and disasters do not affect everyone in the same way. Older people may face additional barriers related to mobility, access to information, health or social isolation. Yet climate policies and emergency plans do not always take these circumstances into account or involve older people in shaping solutions.
Age-friendly planning and climate resilience should therefore be pursued together.
China’s sponge-city initiatives offer one example. Green infrastructure introduced to manage flooding can also improve the accessibility and liveability of neighbourhoods. In Guangyuan, Sichuan, improvements made to more than 100 older residential communities have reduced flood risks while making neighbourhoods more accessible.
The same joined-up thinking is needed in responses to extreme heat. Cooling measures, public information and early-warning systems need to consider how older people receive information, move around their communities and access support.
Sustainability plans must account for population ageing, and age-friendly strategies must prepare communities for a changing climate. Treating these as separate agendas risks producing solutions that work on paper but leave people behind in practice.
Move beyond policy silos
Creating age-friendly societies requires more than individual projects. It demands coordination across government and public institutions.
People do not experience housing, transport, healthcare, climate risks and social support as separate policy areas. These issues come together in their daily lives. Yet responsibility for them is often divided across different departments, budgets and planning processes.
Several countries in the region are developing more integrated approaches.
The Philippines’ Plan of Action for Senior Citizens 2023–2028 promotes active ageing and recognises older people as contributors. Its priorities include employment, community participation, volunteering, lifelong learning and involvement in policymaking.
Thailand’s Third National Action Plan on Older Persons 2023–2037 coordinates action across areas including communities, housing, transport and public spaces.
In Vietnam, Intergenerational Self-Help Clubs bring resources and decision-making closer to communities while involving older people as partners in local development.
These examples differ in their design and context, but they point towards a shared principle: ageing cannot be addressed by the health or social care sector alone. It must be considered across every area that shapes people’s ability to live independently and participate in society.
From discussion to action
The real measure of an age-friendly society is not the number of policies it has adopted. It is whether people can reach essential services, remain connected to their communities and influence decisions affecting their lives. It is whether older people are recognised not only for their needs, but also for their knowledge, leadership and contributions.
These questions will be explored at the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Population Ageing, where governments, civil society, researchers, practitioners and older people will consider what it takes to build societies that respond to longer lives.
The discussion must go beyond how we adapt existing systems for older populations. It should ask a more fundamental question: how can we design our cities, services and institutions around the whole course of life?
Answering that question will require political commitment, investment and the meaningful participation of older people. It will also require us to stop treating ageing as a specialist concern.
Age-friendly societies are not only better places in which to grow older. They are safer, more inclusive and more connected places in which to live at every age.
About the author
Quyen Ngoc Tran is co-lead of the Age-Friendly Societies sub-theme at the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Population Ageing. He brings more than 35 years of experience in research, emergency response and community development across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America.
His work spans social protection, income security, digital inclusion, healthy and active ageing, community-based care, disaster risk reduction and climate action. Over more than two decades, he has helped design and strengthen community-based initiatives across Asia, particularly Older People’s Associations and other intergenerational, locally led organisations.
