Exploring what an age-friendly city would look like for the Centre for Ageing Better and Leeds City Council

With an ageing UK population, age-friendly organisations like the Centre for Ageing Better feel it’s more important than ever to make sure public spaces, services and infrastructure are set up to support and enhance older people’s lives – not make it even more difficult. The Centre for Ageing Better and Leeds City Council wanted to understand what older people find important and what changes they made in order to participate fully in society, with the aim of transforming Leeds into an ‘age friendly’ city.

Approach

Our multi-method qualitative research approach engaged with a diverse range of older people in Leeds through in-depth interviews, focus groups and visits to community groups. Discussions explored what an ‘age friendly’ Leeds would look like under six key themes: Housing, Employment and Learning, Transport, Health, Community Participation, and Public Spaces.

Outcome

Our research gave a clear roadmap of what matters most to residents of Leeds as they age and showed how the six themes are interlinked. The project findings were presented to the Age Friendly Steering Group and continue to act as a set of principles on how to design services with older people in mind. Read more about the project here.

For more information please contact:

Georgina Culliford   Research Manager
georgina.culliford@qaresearch.co.uk
01904 632039

Photography: Huy Phan on Unsplash