Populations of cities are ageing. To facilitate this shift, over 1100 cities joined the Global Network for Age Friendly Cities and Communities of the World Health Organization, which follow a 5-year cycle of planning, implementation and evaluation. Outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation and social environments are domains of the holistic age-friendly agenda. To improve the quality of these domains, cities in The Netherlands, Poland and Romania want to be capable to plan and implement adequate age-friendly strategies and to involve the views and experiences of their citizens. Hence, there is a need for participatory approaches for older people and policymakers, which combine quantitative, sustainable and community-based elements. City&Co aims to co-create an innovative spatial tool for a community-based assessment of the age-friendliness of cities, that can be used in multiple countries. This geoportal supports cities in the 5-year cycle of age-friendliness using direct input from participating older citizens. The tool and input for decision making and implementation will be developed with the direct engagement of older people and city workers. The creation and maintenance of local ecosystems of relevant stakeholders further supports the sustainability of age-friendly strategies and implementation and provides capacity building at city- and neighbourhood level.

Project summary (tentative)

City&Co aimed to develop an innovative tool for a community-based, mixed validated quantitative and qualitative assessment of age-friendly cities, that can be used in multiple countries. This tool should help cities to plan for, and implement, age-friendly strategies, using direct input from older citizens through partnership, delegated power and citizen control as laid down in the Ladder of Citizen Participation. Moreover, this tool itself was developed with the active involvement of both older people and policy makers (city workers), in order to build capacity through local ecosystems at the city- and neighbourhood level. To provide guidance for the tool’s implementation and execution of plans, manuals and a manifesto will be published.

Methods used and experiences that you would like to highlight

The highlight of the project: lots of cocreation with older people and policymakers alike. And the fact we combine elements of psychometrics, sociology, political sciences, urban planning and geospatial analysis into a single project.

Experiences of working in the interdisciplinary project

We made use of a diverse range of methodologies and experiences by working together in a large, interdisciplinary team, with direct input from policymakers. All output is used by relevant actors. Also, we have gained a lot of traction from extended collaboration with partners from around the world.

Overall tentative results that you would like to share to the public

Multiple cross-culturally validated versions of the AFCCQ (Age-Friendly Cities and Communities’ Questionnaire) for use in Poland, Romania, North Macedonia, Australia and beyond. Functional GeoPortal for collection of photographic data concerning the age-friendliness of cities and the analysis of geospatial data of participating cities. Four age-friendly manifestos cocreated with older people and policy-makers. All documents have been uploaded onto the WHO’s website of the Age-Friendly World.

References

Wasserman, R., Barrie, H., Dikken, J., van Hoof, J., Soebarto, V. (2025) Validating the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire in Australia: Revealing five distinct groups of older people in Greater Adelaide. Habitat International 156:103278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103278
Dikken, J., Kazak, J.K., Pavlovski, D., Ivan, L., Ayalon, L., Perek-Białas, J.M., van Hoof, J. (2025) Four European typologies of older adults concerning environmental sustainability. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 211:115276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2024.115276
City&Co Consortium (2025) Manifest ‘Seniorvriendelijke Steden en Gemeenschappen’. VERBONDEN Generaties, VERBONDEN Steden: De Seniorvriendelijke Visie. De Haagse Hogeschool, Den Haag. ISBN 9789083442020.
City&Co Consortium (2025) Age-Friendly Cities and Communities’ Manifesto. CONNECTED Generations, CONNECTED Cities: The Age-Friendly Vision. The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, the Netherlands. ISBN 9789083442013.
City&Co Consortium (2025) Apel miast i społeczności przyjaznych osobom w każdym wieku. Łączenie pokoleń, łączenie miast: perspektywa przyjazności bez względu na wiek. The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Haga, Holandia. ISBN 9789083442044.
City&Co Consortium (2025) Generații CONECTATE, Orașe CONECTATE. Age-Friendly Cities and Communities’ Manifesto. The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Haga, Olanda. ISBN 9789083442037.
Pavlovski, D., Dikken, J., Bajrami Ollogu, E., van Hoof, J. (2024) How older adults experience the age-friendliness of Skopje: Results of the validation of the AFCCQ for use in North Macedonia and a representative survey. Heliyon 10(9):e30372 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30372
van Hoof, J., Dikken, J. (2024) Revealing sustainable mindsets among older adults concerning the built environment: The identification of six typologies through a comprehensive survey. Building and Environment 256:111496 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111496
Dikken, J., Kazak, J.K., Ivan, L., Ayalon, L., Pavlovski, D., Perek-Białas, J.M., van Hoof, J. (2024) Perspectives of Older People on Environmental Sustainability: A Cross-cultural Validation Study between Five Countries. Journal of Cleaner Production 447:141317 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141317
van Hoof, J. (2024) Older people going green out of financial necessity: Environmental sustainability and age-friendly cities. Indoor and Built Environment 33(1):3-7. doi: 10.1177/1420326X231156672
van Hoof, J., van Staalduinen, W.H., Dikken, J. (2024) A multi-year quantitative study of the experienced age-friendliness in The Hague: A tale of four personas. Social Science & Medicine 340:116362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116362
Ivan, L., Dikken, J., van Hoof, J. (2024) Unveiling the Experienced Age-Friendliness of Older People in Bucharest: A Comprehensive Study using the Validated Romanian Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire using Cluster Analysis. Habitat International 143:102973. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102973
Boerner, K., Grenz, A., Weinhardt, M., Hess, M., van Hoof, J., Dikken, J. (2024) The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire AFCCQ (German). The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789083442075
Ivan, L., Dikken, J., van Hoof, J. (2024) Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire AFCCQ (Romanian). The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789083249131
Pavlovski, D., Dikken, J., Bajrami Ollogu, E., van Hoof, J. (2024) The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire AFCCQ (Macedonian). The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789083249179
Pavlovski, D., Dikken, J., Bajrami Ollogu, E., van Hoof, J. (2024) The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire AFCCQ (Albanian). The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789083249186
Dikken, J., van Hoof, J., Neville, S., Grigg, M., Piercy, K. (2024) The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire AFCCQ (English – New Zealand). The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789083442068
Ayalon, L., Dikken, J., van Hoof, J. (2024) The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire: A validation study of the Hebrew version in Israel. Heliyon 10(23): e39182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39182
Perek-Białas, J.M., Skórska, P., Maj, M., Kazak, J.K., Dikken, J. van Hoof, J. (2024) The experienced age-friendliness in two Polish cities: An in-depth analysis of the views of older citizens. Habitat International 153: 103201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103201
Aslanoğlu, R., Chrobak, G., van Hoof, J., Perek-Białas, J.M., Ivan, L., Tavy, Z.K.C.T., Maj, M., Kazak, J.K. (2024) A roadmap for the design of a public-participation Geographic-Information System to support urban ageing. Geomatics and Environmental Engineering 18(5):113-134. https://doi.org/10.7494/geom.2024.18.5.113
Ayalon, L., Dikken, J., van Hoof, J. (2024) The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire AFCCQ (Hebrew). The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789083442099
Dikken, J., Kazak, J.K., Soebarto, V., van Hoof, J. Views of older people on environmental sustainability: development of the SustainABLE-16 Questionnaire. Building and Environment 242:110514. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110514
Dikken, J., van Staalduinen, W.H., van Hoof, J. (2023) Onderzoek Den Haag Seniorvriendelijke Stad 2022. Integrale Rapportage Ouderenpanel. The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands. ISBN: 978-90-832491-5-5