Environmental and Policy Change Clearinghouse: Resources to Support Healthy Aging  

The Environmental and Policy Change Clearinghouse is an online compendium of selected resources relative to environmental and policy change for healthy aging. Intended for practitioners, policymakers, government officials and advocates, it covers timely topics and provides annotated summaries and links to key resources available online. It is intended to help users find relevant resources outside, as well as, within their own fields. The Clearinghouse is a project of the CDC-Healthy Aging Research Network.  

Why is integrating aging into planning, practice, and policy important?

A growing body of research points to the influence of the social, physical, and built environment on older adult health. Despite the evidence, we have been slow to design and implement environmental and policy change that supports healthy aging and helps prevent or delay functional decline and disability. It is urgent that we get to work, learning more about effective policies and how to advance them; engaging people from diverse professions and backgrounds; and joining with others who share our concerns to work toward change. The information collected in the EPC Clearinghouse will aid our work. Together we can build stronger communities for healthy aging.    

Healthy Aging

Healthy aging is defined by the CDC Healthy Aging Network as “the development and maintenance of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being and function in older adults.”¹ The goal of healthy aging is increasingly important to society as the older adult population grows and as evidence accumulates that older adults, as well as younger people, can benefit from having their needs taken into account through sound policy and practice. We all stand to gain when older adults can live healthier, more active lives and contribute to their communities throughout their lives. Research consistently supports physical activity, social engagement, access to nutritious food, and protection from environmental hazards as keys to healthy aging. Social engagement has been shown to reduce risk of disability and depression and to offer some protective effects for cognitive decline.² Research also demonstrates that regular physical activity reduces the incidence of chronic disease and delays functional decline.³ CDC-HAN notes the importance of the environment stating that healthy aging is “most likely to be achieved when physical environments and communities are safe and support the adoption and maintenance by individuals of attitudes and behaviors known to promote health and well-being.”⁴

Healthy Communities

Almost everyone can readily describe characteristics – such as safe playgrounds – that make a community healthy for children. But many of us would be less confident describing characteristics in a community that contribute to healthy aging. Yet the factors that characterize healthy communities are not so different across the lifespan – it's just that some factors become more important with increasing age or disability. For example, we all need protection from environmental hazards, such as exposure to chemicals and excess heat, but older adults have increased susceptibility and are at greater risk than younger people. Older adults, like others, need physical activity, healthy food, and social interaction, but they may have more difficulty meeting these needs if they live in neighborhoods with environmental barriers that interfere with walking or if they have no means of transportation. Accessible housing that enables aging in place and neighborhoods that provide easy access to goods and services, physical activity, and social interaction are crucial. The healthiest of communities also clearly value older adults and create opportunities for meaningful participation in community life.      

Built Environment

Clear evidence supports the important relationship between environmental characteristics and healthy aging. In neighborhoods with challenges – for example, high noise levels, heavy traffic, inadequate lighting, and perceived crime – research shows that older residents are at increased risk of functional loss.⁵ On the other hand, those who reside in more favorable environments are more likely to be physically active, have access to nutritious food, and be independent in activities of daily living.⁶ Researchers have also established links between features such as green common spaces and social ties that are important to well-being.^7,8

Mobility

Mobility – being able to go where we want to go, when we want to go – is cherished at all ages. Mobility has many facets, from active transportation, such as walking and biking, to non-active transportation such as driving and public transit. For older adults, maintaining mobility can be challenging.  Without mobility, older adults can become isolated from the life of the community and experience greater difficulty meeting their basic needs. Disease or changes in function – for example, alterations in depth perception – can make walking or driving more difficult. Obstructions or impediments in the environment that once presented few problems, such as poorly maintained sidewalks, can become obstacles to older adults’ mobility. To meet mobility challenges, we need planning that is integrated, considering all the modes of transportation used by older adults and how best to site and design them for access and ease of use.