FROM WOOD BLOCKS TO CITY BLOCKS

 A YOUNG PLANNER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING BETTER PLACES

From Wood Blocks to City Blocks by Juan Mullerat is one of the most inclusive community planning books I have read.

The young community activists/budding urban designers address the needs of a person who uses a wheelchair for mobility.

The richly illustrated publication emphasizes the need for wide, unobstructed, well-maintained sidewalks to support mobility and freedom for people of all ages and abilities.

I collaborated with Juan Mullerat at PlusUrbia Design for a half decade.

It’s where I felt like a graduated from writer/marketer of planning – to person who could give keynote addresses on Universal Design and Inclusive Mobility to planners, engineers and architects.

I will take tiny credit for planting the Universal Design seed in Juan’s brilliant mind.

Both of us are Type A people with a clear vision and sometimes a hint of stubbornness about approaches to the built environment.

Our debates on wheelchair access, retrofitting old buildings, reconciling healthy design issues and aspects of Aging In Place – improved both of our professional approaches to urban design as a way of making the world a better place.

Kudos to Juan and the PlusUrbia team for embracing Design for All.

 

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

RESOURCES

8 80 Cities https://www.880cities.org

AARP Livability Index https://livabilityindex.aarp.org

AARP Future of Housing https://futureofhousing.aarp.org

American Planning Association https://www.planning.org/resources/equity

Wheel Pad https://www.wheelpad.com

Jeff Speck https://www.jeffspeck.com

New York Academy of Medicine/Age Friendly NYC http://imagenyc.nyam.org

Project for Public Spaces https://www.pps.org

LCM Architects https://www.lcmarchitects.com

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Steven Montgomery is an Accessibility Specialist at Chicago-based LCM Architects, noted while longevity puts pressure on assisted living and skilled care (because people entering these care settings are doing so at a much later age) it seems to suggest that it may provide new opportunities for independent senior housing.”

“As for the built environment, universal design is the best option to facilitate aging in place,” Montgomery said.

“Because it is intentional by design to permit the widest range of users, including accommodation of future functional impairments, often associated with the aging process.”

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Steven Montgomery is an Accessibility Specialist at Chicago-based LCM Architects, an ADA/accessibility and universal design consulting firm.

He said while there still is a market for active lifestyle retirement communities, the aging Baby Boomer population is “markedly more independent and increasingly more urban than the generation that preceded them.”

“The trend of delayed entry into senior settings is likely to continue as those in retirement hope to extend their independence even longer,” he said.

 

 

 

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

“One of the key risk factors for health – both psychological and physical -- is social isolation,” said Meg Walker, a Placemaking Consultant and Community Strategist and Professor at Pratt Institute.

Getting out is so important for seniors.

They need to be near a park, a grocery, a library, a place to meet other people.

We need to make more areas walkable, parks more inviting, universal design applied to all civic space – we need to make places for people.”

Walker sees a trend across the nation of people selling big houses in the suburbs and into cities, downtowns and missed use developments alive with amenities and activity.

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Meg Walker is a Placemaking Consultant and Community Strategist and Professor at Pratt Institute.

She shared her insights when she was Senior Vice President of the New York-based planning non-profit Project for Public Spaces,

Walker has dedicated much of her career – as a planner, educator and elected official – to making streets and public spaces more walkable for human beings.

She said once the temporary need for social distancing has passed, planning for inclusive communities will be a key to supporting an aging population.

 

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Lindsay Goldman is the Chief Executive Officer at Grantmakers In Aging (GIA), said data is very important for cities to track needs. NYAM has created Age-Friendly NYC, an interactive online map that tracks aging in New York.

It is a tool for planning, public works, transit and other officials to best spend on resources for walkability, transit and other amenities that better serve concentrations of aging populations and people with disabilities.