WHO age-friendly cities and communities

Abstract

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) created the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, a global network of cities that are committed to using the WHO guidelines to make their community more age-friendly. For the last eight years, the Network has grown to include 600 cities in 38 countries

however, little has been known about how the guidelines have been adopted and implemented in Asian countries given that the majority of cities and communities in the Network are in the West. This study aims to explore the forces that have led the cities in South Korea, the fastest aging country and also one of few developed countries in Asia, to join the Network. A series of interviews with stakeholders such as the public administrators of the six cities in the Network—Seoul Special Metropolitan City, Jeongeup, Suwon, Busan Metropolitan City, Jeju Self-Governing Province, and Dong-gu (a district of Gwangju Metropolitan City)—have been conducted and subjected to a content analysis. The findings are as follows: (1) Among the factors analyzed, political motivation held the greatest sway

(2) strong leadership was a crucial component to membership and in the creation and execution of an action plan

(3) the existence of a city research foundation—or lack thereof—affected implementation

(4) the lack of a ‘politics stream’ as per John Kingdon’s ‘multiple streams’ theory

(5) finally, the role of Seoul Special Metropolitan City as a mentor was a significant contributor the recent influx of Korean members. The results suggest the need for more involvement from the central government and the creation of a formal local Korean network. This study contributes to closing the knowledge gap in age-friendly initiatives in Asia, and future research needs to compare factors affecting the participation in the Network between countries within and across continents.