Developing age-friendly cities for promoting active ageing: state of the art in Europe

The growing elderly population in society is considered an issue that needs to be addressed systematically to manage unescapable social and economic effects (Istat, 2023). Demographic ageing poses both a challenge and an opportunity in a society that is changing because of people’s changing needs, and current expectations regarding longevity and quality of life (Boffo, 2022; Formenti, 2022). For this reason, the possibility of rethinking living spaces, public and private, as places that promote well-being and active ageing, defined as the process of optimising opportunities for health, participation and safety in order to improve the quality of life of older people, assumes great importance (World Health Organization, 2002). Within this horizon, the contribution proposes some reflections on the state of the art outlined through a narrative literature review referring to the topic of ‘active ageing’ in the European context, in relation to the redevelopment and rethinking of urban contexts in an ‘age-friendly’ key (World Health Organization, 2023).