Developing Age Friendly Communities in an Emergent Post-Pandemic World

This final project report, on research led by the University of Salford in partnership with Inspiring Communities Together and Manchester Metropolitan University, investigates the legacy and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people’s connections to other people and places in order to develop evidence-based recommendations to support older people to continue to age in place.

The research was funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, and centred on three questions:

• How have older people made connections within and around their environments during the pandemic, and what can we learn from this as we move out of it?
• What has been the impact of Covid-19 on older people and their living environments, and how can the development and adaption of new and existing support activities help age-friendly places to succeed?
• How have activities for older people changed, and how might these continue to adapt post-Covid-19?

The report details the project's key findings on connections, social losses, resilience and adaptation, service delivery, collaboration and empowerment, digital inclusion and the uneven impact of the pandemic on older adults, which exacerbates existing vulnerabilities and inequalities. It offers nine recommendations for organisations and service providers to act in response to the pandemic's lasting effects to enable a shift in how communities are designed with and for older people.