Piloting the Age-friendly City Indicator Guide

Catherine SimcoxBanyule City Council

Project aimThe objectives of this Guide are:• To provide structured guidance

on selecting indicators of the age-friendliness of a city.

• To present a set of indicators which are suggested for use in measuring the age-friendliness of a city.

• To support local efforts to develop relevant and appropriate indicators of the age-friendliness of a city.

WHO pilot sitesThe other pilot sites included: Bilbao, Spain; Bowdoinham, USA; Dijon, France; Hong Kong SAR, China; La Plata, Argentina; Nairobi, Kenya; New Delhi, India; Shanghai/Jing’an, China; Tehran, Iran; Tuymazy, Russia; Udine, Italy; and Washington DC, USA.

Overview of methodology• Established work group• Confirm the people taking

responsibility for collection of information on each of the core indicators

• Collection of information for each indicator.

• Two workshops: data focus/ using the guide focus

• World café workshop with residents

• Report to WHO• Global meeting to finalise

Guide.

The Project team

• Three key Officer’s, spent over 50 hours implementing this project.

• Nine project team members that spent between 10 and 50 hours implementing project.

Partnerships

• 7 Departments from Council participated

• Banyule Age-friendly Advisory Committee

• Banyule Age-friendly Champion group

• La Trobe University – Prof Yvonne Wells

The indicators

• 14 core indicators and 5 supplementary indicators.

• Each indicator had 2 definitions to be considered.

Example of Indicator

• Participation in local decision making.

• Slightly changed the WHO definition to fit the local situation.

• In initial discussions we thought that this would be an unnecessary indicator for Australia – results shocked us.

Example of indicator

• Accessibility of public transportation stops

• Definition 1: walking distance of 500m = 55%

• Definition 2: don’t use public transport due to distance from home = 8.2%

Older persons involvement

• One older person (excluding staff) on the project team.

• Contribution to surveys over time

• Participation in the World Café workshop

Next steps

• Project meeting at WHO, Geneva Switzerland, 10th and 11th June

• opportunity for the pilot sites to directly offer feedback on the age-friendly cites guide and core indicators, and exchange their views and experiences

Contact details

Catherine SimcoxCommunity Planning ConsultantBanyule City Council9490 4222catherine.simcox@banyule.vic.gov.au