Age-Friendly Communities Project
The goal of the Age-Friendly Communities Project is to develop a new and more inclusive theory of age-friendly communities.
To do this, the Age-Friendly Communities Project Team (AFCPT) are studying how the geography of the older population has changed due to changing trends in aging-in-place and migration, socio-demographics, immigration, and social and public policies. Secondly, The AFCPT is examining how the older population is creating new geographies and different needs than are currently understood within the literature on age-friendly communities.
The AFCPT is using the latest census data, as well as the General Social Survey, the Canadian Community Health Survey, the Aboriginal People Survey, the Longitudinal Immigration Database, and the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging as part of the research being carried. Older people and service providers in three age-friendly communities (Saskatoon, Toronto, and Kingston) are being interviewed in order to understand the current and future needs of the older population and the processes which were used for the communities to be designated as age-friendly.
This site is a space where you can access our findings, online publications, conference presentations and information on the older population of Canada through the interactive Atlas of the Older Population of Canada, one of the projects of the AFCPT.
The University of Toronto Mississauga Team
Dr. Kathi Wilson is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. Her research focuses on understanding the links between health and place. She is particularly interested in examining the inequalities in health and access to health care as they pertain to Indigenous populations and recent immigrants with a specific focus on neighbourhoods.
Her research examines the links between health and place using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She is an advocate of community-based, collaborative research and has a strong relationship with various community partners through the Healthy City Stewardship Centre.
The University of Saskatchewan Team
Dr. Ryan Walker is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan. He is Director of the Prairie Research Centre, Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network, and Principal Investigator of City Planning and Indigeneity on the Prairies (funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant). He has published widely in journals that address the fields of urban geography and planning and is co-editor of Canadian Cities in Transition: Perspectives for an Urban Age, 5th edition (2015, Oxford University Press).
Lindsay Herman is an M.A. candidate in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan.
Candace Skrapek is Co-Chair of the Age-friendly Saskatoon Initiative Steering Committee at the Saskatoon Council on Aging.
Cheryl Loadman is Project Coordinator of the Age-friendly Saskatoon Initiative at the Saskatoon Council on Aging.