Age Friendly Strategy

This new Age Friendly Strategy will be focused on supporting and encouraging Positive and Active Ageing, where the City of Unley is accessible for everyone, promotes health and wellbeing, provides opportunities for connection and inclusion including a high sense of belonging, meaning and contribution.

As part of considering Age Friendly initiatives, it’s important to think of ageing as intergenerational, rather than a specific trait of the elderly – after all we are all ageing.  The entire community benefits from Age Friendly Cities:  providing neighbourhoods that are welcoming, safe and sustainable for all generations, footpaths that are free from obstructions, places where people can move around freely and whereby individual contributions are valued and people support each another - all contributing to a high quality of life.

The new Age Friendly Strategy will be aligned to the values, principles and definitions of Age Friendly Cities and Communities as outlined by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Additionally, the Strategy will explore the WHO 8 key dimensions of an Age Friendly City and Community being:   Outdoor Spaces and Buildings; Transportation; Housing; Social Participation; Respect and Social Inclusion; Civic Participation; Communication and Information and Community and Health Services.

There are several key stages included in this project.  Stage one (which is where we currently are) includes research and the preparation of a literature review, looking at the local, state, national and global models and trends.

Stage one also includes undertaking an extensive community engagement program, which commences on Monday 25 August and concludes close of business, Monday 15 September 2014.  This initial community engagement initiative is aimed at understanding the positive and negative features of the City of Unley for older people and what can be done to improve our city for people as they age.

Although the initiative is targeted to community members over 50, we are also encouraging participation of those who are passionate about creating a city that supports positive ageing.

There are many ways for people to get involved, including:

• Completing the comprehensive online survey on Your Say Unley between Monday 25 August until close of business Monday 15 September 2014 - yoursay.unley.sa.gov.au/age-friendly-strategy
• Providing a response via hard copy survey, which is available in our Your Say Unley document library, via our Customer Service Centre, the Unley Community Centre or visiting us at one of the Age Friendly Hubs below.
• Participating in our Age Friendly Community Forums, held at Unley Community Centre (Arthur Street, Unley) on:
o Monday 1 September, 1pm - 3.30pm (Carers Forum)
o Thursday 4 September, 1pm - 3.30pm
o Tuesday 9 September, 7pm - 9.30pm
o Thursday 11 September, 1pm - 3.30pm  
• Visiting our Age Friendly ambassadors (our staff) located at our Age Friendly Hubs:
o Unley Community Centre:  Monday 1 September - Friday 12 September, 9am - 430pm (closed Wednesdays)
o Unley Shopping Centre:  Monday 1 September - Friday 12 September, 9am - 5pm and until 9 pm on Thursdays
o Unley Library - Saturday 6 September (10am - 4pm) and Sunday 7 September (2pm - 5pm).
The survey has been developed, and will be administered, by the University of SA in conjunction with the Zero Waste Centre (who are developing key indicators for Age Friendly Cities).  It is rather lengthy, taking approximately 15 minutes to complete, however it is a research survey and needs to be this comprehensive in order to inform the development of Strategy.

Council will also be interviewing key service providers and stakeholders during the engagement period to establish their aspirations, initiatives and priorities relating to an Age Friendly Unley.