This inspiring account of a local development in a small German city of 73,000 and a growing senior population offers a hopeful model for not just senior care but active senior engagement in community life. The City of Arnsberg in central Germany established a Department of Future Aging (DFA) to plan and implement a city supportive of its aging residents. The DFA started with a survey of the population, which elicited the thoughts and ideas of seniors themselves, which initiated a “co-production” approach to the design of an aging-friendly city. Importantly, the approach was more than just about providing services to seniors but also about facilitating and supporting the active engagement of seniors in community life, even for those with dementia. – Peter Clutterbuck
“The [community survey] information set into motion a mindset shift that fundamentally altered Arnsberg’s future. Until that point, the city’s approach to aging had been classically “deficit-oriented” — focused on what seniors could no longer do and primarily putting resources into nursing homes, rather than creating programs that capitalized on what they could still offer.
Today “it is about strengthening resources and capacities, empowering, and enabling elderly people to stay or become active citizens,” said Martin Polenz, who leads the DFA [municipal Department of Future Aging], which officially launched in 2004.”
