We’re all older than we’ve ever been

by Richard Crappsley

 
Source: Pinterest.

2021 was the start of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). By coincidence, rather than planning, it was also the year I edited an issue of Urban Design titled “Design for an Ageing Population”. Three years into the UN decade and on from this special issue, it seems timely to look back at some of the key topics raised and consider what, if anything, has changed. Here I take a look at:

• UK demographic trends;
• Housing and planning considerations in relation to those trends;
• Design implications

Local demographic changes

Three years on, I’m older than I’ve ever been (to misquote They Might Be Giants), and so is everybody else.

Across England and Wales, the number of people aged 65 and over has increased from 9.2 million in 2011 to over 11 million in the latest census data, and the Office for National Statistics has predicted that by 2050 this age bracket will make up close to a third of the population.

We aren’t just getting older — according to the British Medical Journal, life expectancy has stalled since the pandemic, with male life expectancy dropping from 79.3 to 78.6 years, and from 83 to 82.6 years for women. We are also living a longer portion of our lives in poor health, with huge inequalities between the most deprived and most prosperous areas, as well as based on ethnicity, wealth, and geography.

Housing provision and planning context

These demographic trends present the UK with a huge challenge in meeting the older generation’s housing needs.

Firstly, existing homes need to be improved to alleviate issues like dampness, cold, and trip hazards. 2020 data shows that 49% of the 3.5 million homes in England that fail to meet the government’s basic decency criteria are inhabited by people aged 55 or over. This equates to around 2.6 million older people living in homes that aren’t fit to be lived in.

Secondly, we need a wider range of later living options. Not all older people want to downsize or enter specialist accommodation, and those who do often wish to stay close to friends and family, in a home that suits their needs with good access to green spaces, shops, and transport. Existing communities need a greater range of affordable, accessible housing options that suit people’s shifting needs as they grow older.

The planning system has an important role in this. At present development of older people’s housing can be stymied by the lack of clarity related to planning use class, and by housing assessments that do not consider local need for older people’s housing. Others have argued (see Tim Spencer’s article in here), that the planning system is ageist, often resisting housing developments for older people in town centres despite evidence that they revitalise town centres and boost local economies, rather than depress them.

In May 2024, the ‘Older People’s Housing Taskforce’ submitted a report on improving housing for older people. It has yet to be made public, but let’s hope it recommends some actions to address these specific points.

Design implications

Ageing isn’t getting old, so what does this mean for our towns, cities, and our work as urban designers? In the three years since my first deep dive into the topic, there has been positive progress.

The UK’s Network of age-friendly communities has grown significantly — by my count, over a quarter of the total number have joined this UN initiative since 2021. These are places ranging from Cardiff to Kirklees, from the Liverpool City Region to the London Borough of Hackney, that are committed to making their community a better place to age in.

But there is more to be done.

Planning use classes need to be revised to enable the delivery of more diverse later living options. The CCN and ARCO’s proposed C2R classification from 2020 provides a strong template for this, outlining guidance that would enable these communities to become an integral requirement of housing-need assessments in local areas. It would also help to boost current low levels of provision, with targeted measures to help address the issue of affordability, and enable further take-up of this type of later living.

Local housing targets, which the new Labour administration recently announced they would be bringing back, should also include the delivery of specific provisions for ageing communities, with more encouragement for later living in town centres. Finally, we should leverage the growing Age-Friendly Communities Network, reinforcing the eight domains essential to later life, and focus on designing places with all age cohorts in mind — older, as well as younger.

When it comes to providing our ageing population with homes that support their evolving needs, there is no denying that we have a challenge ahead of us. But this challenge also makes way for exciting opportunities to change how we see ageing as a society and to find solutions that allow for long, happy, healthy lives of autonomy, community, and support.