Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb: Making Suburbia More Livable for Retirees

From the decidedly pedestrian-unfriendly layout of Shoppes at Wyndham Village to the habit many city administrators have of referring to bike and walking paths as no more than frivolous "recreation facilities" (more on that when I post about the first Franklin Trails Committee meeting), Franklin can be a tough place to function if you happen to be elderly, differently-abled, or without a vehicle.

Ironically, some of the Franklin politicians who roll their eyes (and I mean that literally) at suggestions that we make walkability and accessibility a priority are themselves approaching (or already in) their golden years. And who can forget the large contingent of Franklin's elderly community that Casper Green mobilized to attend a public meeting supporting developer Mark Carstensen's Shoppes at Wyndham Village despite a site plan distinctly unfriendly to the elderly?

This past weekend's Wall Street Journal features a story about how many suburbs are "retrofitting" to better serve their aging population - and retaining that population, who otherwise would leave for Florida or Arizona retirement communities. And this means keeping our older neighbors in the mainstream and participatory in community life, not concentrated in "elderly housing facilities."

Why can't we "age in place"?

Sitting in his office in Fayetteville, Ga., Ken Steele, the town's mayor, is poring over a local street map, explaining how this suburb of Atlanta hopes to transform itself into a "lifelong community"—and why neighborhoods across the country need to do the same.
"Every small community has the same problem," says Mr. Steele, age 69. "We want residents to be able to age in place, to meet their needs…here, without having to move away."
To that end, he indicates on the map how a new street grid could reduce traffic in the center of town and help Fayetteville become a "walking community"; how new town homes and condominiums, in an area where single-family homes have long been the norm, could give residents of all ages more housing options; and how new greenways and parks could promote social interaction.

"Lenders, landowners, developers—they're all talking now," Mr. Steele says of the project. "We really can't afford to wait."

That sense of urgency is understandable. The nation's sprawling suburbs—home to as much as half of the U.S. population and more than 30 million people age 55-plus—may have been a good place to grow up. But the suburbs are proving a tough place to grow old.
Indeed, as the country ages, suburbia's widely assumed benefits—privacy, elbow room, affordability—tend to vanish. Maintaining yards and homes requires more effort; driving everywhere, and for everything, becomes expensive and, eventually, impossible. (Research shows that men and women who reach their 70s, on average, outlive their ability to drive by six and 10 years, respectively.)
Even something as simple as the absence of sidewalks can discourage older adults from walking through their neighborhoods and seeing other people.

Suddenly, "all that privacy that drew people to the suburbs in the first place can become isolation," says Ellen Dunham-Jones, associate professor of architecture and urban design at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

One answer, of course, is to leave. Active-adult communities and assisted-living facilities exist to mitigate some of the drawbacks of growing old on a cul-de-sac. That said, the vast majority of older adults don't want to move. Fully 85% of surveyed individuals age 50-plus told AARP, the Washington-based advocacy group, that they wish to remain in their communities for as long as possible. And those communities, invariably, want the same thing: a strong mix of ages, interests and abilities among residents.

Perhaps a better solution, and one finding favor in more circles, is the idea of "retrofitting" suburbia and developing, as seen on the drawing board in Fayetteville, "lifelong communities." Such projects typically involve taking a neighborhood or site within an existing town or suburb and creating a compact, walkable community—one with alternatives to single-family homes, such as condominiums or row houses. Ideally, older residents in large homes will have the option of downsizing and remaining in a community where they can access restaurants, shopping and other amenities and services on foot.

Read the rest at: Making Suburbia More Livable for Retirees - WSJ.com.