Aaron Murphy, of the website Empowering the Mature Mind, has written a great piece about how re-zoning and creative thinking is needed to restructure our communities to be more age friendly. We often think of Aging in Place as an issue of home modification, but livable communities are also necessary if older adults are going to remain active members of the community. Of course livable communities benefit everyone: young single adults, families with children and older adults alike. Murphy puts forth some ideas for how we might start thinking about radically reshaping the suburban landscape. For instance, what if abandoned big box stores were converted into Senior/Community Centers? What if the vacant parking lots at strip malls were rezoned so that they could be covered in cottage housing surrounding a park or other common space? What if abandoned car dealerships were transformed into accessible mixed-use apartments with commercial space on the ground floor? You can read more about these and other ideas at Empowering the Mature Mind.
Read the article “Re-Zoning our Nation for “Aging In Place””