Creating Places To Age: A Community Guide to Implementing Aging-Friendly Land Use Decisions

It is anticipated that 8,000 members of the Baby Boom generation will turn 65 every day for the rest of the decade. We know so much more today than when this generation was born about the correlation between where people live and how they age.
We know that seniors today are at risk of social isolation and that social isolation presents serious threats to mental and physical health. We know that seniors face limited access to community resources when isolated. We know that seniors living in New Jersey, like many populations in our state, face difficulty in accessing affordable and adequate housing. And we know that all of these issues are exacerbated by inequity and during a crisis like a natural disaster or a disease outbreak.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Land use is a critical factor in a town’s livability, and especially for older residents. Including aging-friendly factors in local planning like affordable and diverse housing, transportation, walkability, flexible employment opportunities, and access to daily activities and socialization helps towns ensure that older residents can continue to live and thrive independently in the communities they know and love.
New Jersey Future has been helping towns proactively design their built environments to accommodate the needs of an aging population. These towns are well on their way to becoming better places to age and to live in general, as we have learned that aging-friendly towns are more livable, equitable, and inclusive towns for people of all ages.
New Jersey Future has created this guide to provide communities with a step-by-step process to make it easier to design for the needs of older residents. We hope you’ll put it to good use and join us in our work to create great places to age across New Jersey and stronger, healthier, more equitable communities for everyone.

Download the guide. 

Learn more about our aging-friendly work

Appendix Documents

The below list of resources are referenced in the Creating Places To Age: A Community Guide to Implementing Aging-Friendly Land Use Decisions and are designed to be used in conjunction with the step-by-step process offered in the guide. Additional resources are included in the guide.

• Municipal Letter of Interest for Conducting an Aging-Friendly Land Use Assessment
• Municipal Letter of Interest for Participation in Implementation Planning Project
• Municipal Memorandum of Agreement for Conducting a Land Use Assessment
• Municipal Memorandum of Agreement for Implementation Planning
• Municipal Sample Resolution to Participate in Project
• Pre-Assessment Checklist
• Sample Community Profile
• Creating Great Places to Age Land Use Assessment Kick-Off Meeting Agenda
• Kick-off Meeting Summary Memo Outline
• Implementation Planning Kick-Off Meeting Agenda
• Implementation Planning Approach and Process
• Identify a SMART Objective and Potential Strategies to Achieve the Objective for Each Priority Recommendation
• Identify Action Steps, Responsibilities and Timeline for Each Strategy
• Sample Sample Implementation Tracking Sheet
• Creating Great Places to Age Priority Strategies Meeting Agenda