Nelson’s ‘age-friendly’ plan
The Nelson City Council is looking for public feedback to help make the city more ‘‘agefriendly’’.
The ‘‘City for All Ages’’ initiative was officially launched at the council chambers on Monday, along with a survey and website explaining the project.
At the launch, Co-Director for Active Ageing at AUT, Professor Stephen Neville, focused on the challenges and benefits of making a city better for older people.
Twenty per cent of people in Nelson are aged over 65, with that figure expected to rise to a third by 2043.
Neville said that with New Zealanders living longer and older people becoming a larger proportion of the population, agefriendly strategies were critical to enable them to stay healthy, active, and connected and contributing to society.
‘‘If you have an environment which enables older people to get around, it enables them to be more social. We know there is a link between things like loneliness and decreased physical wellbeing.’’
He said that from surveying people in communities around the country, these needs included appropriate transportation, seating and public toilets, as well as easy access to services like libraries and supermarkets.
Neville said that while there had often been a strong community and government focus on the wellbeing of young people and families, older people had been less well catered for.
Through research and his own experience as a nurse, he had seen older adults ‘‘getting a really bad deal’’.
While ageism might be subtle
AUT
and even unconscious, it could result in older people being patronised, infantilised or treated like children, Neville said.
He said there were distinct challenges Nelson’s ageing population would face compared to other regions. One issue was domestic migration, with many older people choosing Nelson as a retirement destination.
‘‘That’s a challenge. They could be people who haven’t been brought up the local area, so they don’t know those social networks that other Nelsonians would have.’’
While those issues and other changes could bring stress, he said, there were ways to accommodate the demographic changes. ‘‘If Nelson can get this right, it can become a city for all people.
‘‘This can involve really simple changes to the city’s physical environment – like having seats appropriately placed so people can stop and rest, or by making libraries central meeting places.’’
The survey, at cityforallages. nz/age-friendly-communitysurvey, will run until March 25.
Council group manager strategy and communications Nicky McDonald said an ageing population would affect housing, the economy, the labour market, transport, and health care. ‘‘Getting the city to prepare for those changes now, in a way that involves people of all ages, is the smart thing to do.’’
Steering group chairman Paul Steere said the plan would hopefully be finalised over the next six to 12 months.
‘‘It can become a city for all ages.’’
Professor Stephen Neville,