World's best cities prepare for more urban, older populations

Two mega-trends — the rapid urbanization of the world’s population and the aging of that same population — will soon collide. By 2030, more than 1 billion people (one in eight) will be aged 65 or older, and by 2050, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas.

What’s needed between now and then, according to a new report from McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute, is new thinking about how to create “age-friendly cities.”

Creating an age-friendly city might be harder than it sounds. We still think of major cities — New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles — as the playgrounds of the young and ambitious: places where recent graduates can establish a name for themselves in business or entertainment, work for innovative start-ups or take advantage of the latest hipster creations.

http://www.startribune.com/world-s-best-cities-prepare-for-more-urban-older-populations/365834091/