Building an age-friendly city

Demographic change is one of the key societal challenges that cities are facing. The number of elderly citizens is increasing continuously, but cities are struggling to adapt to their needs. The city of Badalona (ES) acknowledged this mandate for change and demonstrated that it is possible to redesign the local health and social services to improve the quality of life of elderly people.Through several initiatives and projects launched since 2012, Badalona aims at putting the citizen at the centre of the continuum of care, including vertical integration (between different levels of care) and horizontal integration (between different local services, e.g. social services, employment and housing). The results are an improved quality of care, and more stable interconnections between different public services.