Redefining Age-Friendly and Resilient Cities under Pandemic through Scorecard

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed older adults' vulnerability, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive urban health strategies and resilient cities. Existing frameworks often lack specific tools for assessing pandemic policy effectiveness for aging populations.Methods: This study introduces the Pandemic Policy Assessment Scorecard, a tool with 16 subjects and 40 evaluative statements across five dimensions: governance & finance, healthcare capacity, social support, urban environment, and information/communication technology. Developed drawing on World Health Organization and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction frameworks, these subjects were selected through literature review, expert consultation, and pilot studies, capturing both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of policy performance.Results: The scorecard provides a systematic framework to assess pandemic-related policy effectiveness. Comparative analyses of pandemic responses in aging societies, such as Switzerland and Thailand, revealed variations in age-friendly policy initiatives, highlighting the necessity of targeted, evidence-based approaches to protect elderly populations during crises.Conclusions: The scorecard offers a integrated framework that complements existing resilience tools by explicitly addressing elder- specific vulnerabilities. It equips policymakers with data-driven insights to strengthen interventions, ultimately advancing the development of age-friendly, resilient urban environments prepared for future health emergencies.