International cooperation big cities for senior citizens

Representatives from Manchester, Frankfurt, Bangalore, New York and Suzhou were in The Hague to shape the cooperation. The six cities want to show the way for other cities by jointly developing shared solution to improve the city’s future. Part of this is looking for innovative solutions to help elderly stay home longer.

According to The Hague alderman Karsten Klein, host of the conference, The Hague has been working for years on a more satisfying environment for senior citizens. “We want people to participate as long as is possible. For this it’s important they stay vital. The other cities partially share the same issues and it’s a good thing we will now share solutions and experiences.”

Growing care spending

Worldwide more and more cities have to deal with aging populations, with a growing number of elderly having chronical conditions. The costs for professional care and services grow as well. Most elderly want to live independently. But there are also opportunities to be found in aging populations. The cities present at the Age-Friendly Cities Conference each see new possibilities, looking for their separate solutions. Now they wil combine forces, using existing networks such as Ageplatform EU.
 

Joint ICT solutions

The Hague took the initiative this year, next year Frankfurt and Manchester will take the lead. They will organize meetings with and for elderly citizens living in the cooperating cities.  Manchester, Frankfurt, The Hague, Bangalore, New York and Suzhou will jointly make preparations for combined development and sharing of ICT based solutions and other innovations for senior citizens. They will share success and failure alike.