Participatory urban development

Age-friendly, community-promoting and future-orientated – an exchange across borders

6 November 2024, Mannheim (Germany)

Many municipalities are committed to creating an age-friendly, community-promoting and future-orientated living environment. A central aspect of this is the involvement of those who know best what is needed in their environment to promote ageing well, i.e. older people and their representative organisations.

In Germany, Section 71 of the Social Security Code XII provides the legal framework for the organisation of support structures for older people in order to ensure basic services for counselling, encounters and active participation. From an international perspective, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) ‘Age-friendly Cities’ project offer guidance and solutions for sustainable, age-friendly and future-oriented development of municipalities.

During this conference examples of municipal development from Germany and abroad that place particular emphasis on participatory approaches were presented. In addition, guidelines, concepts and methods for age-friendly municipal development have been presented and discussed.

The conference was aimed at senior citizens‘ representatives, senior citizens’ organisations and initiatives as well as municipal administrations. It intended to provide impetus for age-friendly urban and neighbourhood development as well as for further discussions at municipal, state and federal level.

Programme of the event

Documentation of the event

About the speakers

Presentations

Natalie Turner, Centre for Ageing Better, United Kingdom
Age-friendly communities facts concepts and methods

Susanne Dobner, queraum. cultural and social research, Austria
Ältere Menschen gestalten ihre Stadt mit - die Beispiele Wien, Graz, Linz, Tulln und Wörgl in Österreich

Tina Schmid, City of Winterthur, Switzerland
Lokal vernetzt älter werden und die Altersstrategie 2025

Gabriele Reichhardt, City of Stuttgart
Unser Stuttgart - Auf dem Weg zur altersfreundlichen Stadt

Maren Wittek, Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Integration Baden- Württemberg
Heute das Zusammenleben von morgen gestalten!

Manuel Montero, Institute for Older Persons and Social Services (IMSERSO), Spain
Age-friendly cities in Spain

Ana Ramovs, Anton Trstenjak Institute of Gerontology and Intergenerational Relations, Slovenia
Slovenian Network Of Age-Friendly Cities And Communities

Ute Hauser, Alzheimer Association Baden-Württemberg e.V. | Selbsthilfe Demenz
Demenzsensible Kommunen und Quartiere

Photo gallery

Six people are sitting on chairs on a stage and discussing. From left to right: Ina Voelcker, Jens-Peter Kruse, Friederike Scholz, Ilka Borr, Nicole Zündorf-Hinte and Dr Heidrun Mollenkopf.

An interpreter with headphones sits in an interpreter's booth. In front of her are a laptop, the interpreting equipment and various documents. Through the glass wall of the booth, you can see the event room with the audience.

Participants at BAGSO conference applaud. Jens-Peter Kruse and Katrin Markus from the BAGSO board, Franz Müntefering, the former BAGSO chairman, and Nicole Zündorf-Hinte, policy officer at the BMFSFJ, can be seen.

The moderator, Katja Nellissen, a middle-aged woman, is standing on a stage. She is wearing a black sweater, a colourful scarf around her neck and a headset. She is holding notes in her hands. In the background, there is a BAGSO banner.

Participants at BAGSO conference follow a lecture in a bright conference room. On the left in the foreground is a speaker at the lectern, on the right is a BAGSO banner.

The speaker Ute Hauser, a young woman with long red hair, is standing at a lectern. She is wearing a black T-shirt and a green blazer over it. A BAGSO banner can be seen behind her. Participants in the conference are sitting in the foreground.

A middle-aged man is photographing a group of people of different ages in front of a banner with the inscription BAGSO.

A group of people of different ages are standing in front of and on a staircase for a group photo. The event building with a wooden and glass façade can be seen in the background.