The failure of our community design over the last 60 years is evidenced by the popularity of assisted living centers and other senior care facilities throughout America. According to the AARP, there are over 33,000 assisted living facilities operating in the U.S. today (1). These facilities don’t provide the regular medical services that nursing homes do, and they tend to market themselves as being able to provide more autonomy than nursing homes. In fact, often one of the biggest selling points to the public is that they provide transportation and help with “getting around.”

It’s not a coincidence that assisted living centers have sprung up at the same time our society has become especially auto-dependent. The car has become the dominant form of transportation in almost every American city and town. As a consequence, people who aren’t comfortable driving or people who simply cannot drive have little or no independence and freedom to go where they please. For teenagers, this can spark feelings of being trapped and caged. In the elderly, who once had the privilege to drive but can no longer do so, feelings of isolation and loss of freedom are often present. Thus, our society has unintentionally but ignorantly grown in such a way so that we need to be carted around like cattle when we’re underage or in the last leg of our lives.

The lack of mobility, however, is the lesser of the two evils that stem from an auto-oriented lifestyle and inhibit us from aging in place. There are insidious health-related side effects of a sedentary, auto-oriented existence. In 1996, the Surgeon General released the report Physical Health and Activity, in which heart disease, muscle and joint weakness, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety, and high obesity levels were listed as the results of too little exercise. The report stated that “moderately intense physical activity helps to maintain the functional independence of older adults and enhance the quality of life for people of all ages.” The Surgeon General recognized that people of every age need to get their exercise through their daily routine instead of just devoting time specifically for exercise, as well as that walking and biking as modes of transportation are critical elements for people getting enough exercise throughout their day (2). As further proof of this concept, in a joint study between the Center for Disease Control and the American Institute of Certified Planners, cities with higher rates of walking, biking and transit were linked with lower rates of heart disease and lower blood pressure (3).

The long and short of it is that having a transportation network that offers viable options besides the car is one of the greatest, if not the single greatest, ways the U.S. can create successful aging in place strategies. This doesn’t mean we should sacrifice our quality of life and all live in concrete urban jungles so that we can walk and bike everywhere. Rather, as a society, we need to move towards clean and green urban living, where nature is weaved throughout the city and where good urban design inspires people to live in town. With good urban design approaches in place, walking and biking can become fun and convenient modes of transportation; people not only get exercise, they also get to know their neighbors from the daily interaction that occurs when they’re not isolated behind the glass and steel of a car.

So, what can we do as a society now to encourage positive changes in approaches to urban design? Becoming involved in the local planning process is a start, but, more importantly, we need to begin forsaking the old American Dream of a single-family home with a large yard and white picket fence and replace it with a new American Dream where people can age in place and live healthy, fulfilling lives by residing in an inspiring urban environment. The best way to support this new American Dream is by following the advice of Mahatma Gandhi—”be the change you want to see in the world”—and by making your next move a move into town.

Sources: (1) http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/beyond_50_il_3.pdf (2) Health and Community Design, 2003 (3) Physical Health and Activity, Surgeon General, www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/sgr.htm

Michael Figura is a planner at GreenPlan, Inc., co-owner of Eco Concepts Realty, and a member of the New Life Journal Green Home Experts Board. He can be reached at Michael@ecoconceptsrealty.com.

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