INTRODUCTION
Lead Editors:
Joost van Hoof, DSc, Research Group of Urban Ageing, Faculty of Social Work & Education, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague. Department of Systems Research, Faculty of Spatial Management and Landscape Architecture, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland.
Hannah R. Marston, PhD, School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
The Call for Papers initiative, known as Critical and Conceptual Advances in Urban Studies, aspires to be a catalyst for groundbreaking research and thought-provoking discussions that will shape the future of urban studies and contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of cities around the globe. As a key part of the initiative, this call for Urban and Ageing Population aims to develop new theoretical and empirically grounded insights into how the age-friendly cities and communities’ movement and its accompanying actions impact the way older people can age well in cities around the world.
URBAN AND AGEING POPULATION
In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched it pivotal Global Age-Friendly Cities: A Guide, which has become a leading resource for over 1700 cities, communities and countries around the globe that aspire to be age-friendly. The movement itself was an extension of the active ageing agenda published in 2002 by the WHO. Active ageing is the process of optimising opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.
As stated above, the age-friendly agenda has been embraced by hundreds of cities and communities around the world which have joined the Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities that saw the light in 2010. Apart from this successful expansion of the network in recent years, the age-friendly agenda is surrounded by much debate, in particular about what constitutes an age-friendly city, and how their age-friendliness can be measured in order to establish baseline assessments from which further developments can take place.
A set of core indicators and a list of research methodologies published by the WHO in 2015 can be used as additional input for assessing age-friendly parameters and are the key criteria for selecting age-friendly cities indicators for measurability, validity, replicability, and sensitivity to change. Moreover, the WHO set a number of limitations of the framework and indicators, stating that “age-friendliness is a complex, dynamic and multi-dimensional concept which is also highly context dependent”, and that “it does not easily lend itself to standardization of measurement” (2015, p. 65). It is in the light of the lack of standardisation, that anyone can claim their design or city to be age-friendly.
It was not until 2020 that Dikken et al. (2020) confirmed the eight domains of the -WHO’s age-friendly model, although a ninth factor, namely financial situation, that was previously dispersed over the various domains of the Global Guide and the accompanying Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities. The members of the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities. largely lack the instruments to assess their age-friendliness, even though this is a part of a 5-year cycle to which they have committed themselves.
Urban and Ageing Population forms a pivotal segment of the Call for Papers initiative being launched by Urban Studies. This initiative, known as Critical and Conceptual Advances in Urban Studies, aspires to be a catalyst for groundbreaking research and thought-provoking discussions that will shape the future of urban studies and contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of cities globally. As a key part of this extensive initiative, the call for Urban and Ageing Population aims to develop new theoretical and empirically grounded insights into how the age-friendly cities and communities’ movement and its accompanying actions impact the way older people can age well in cities around the world.
In this call for papers, the focus is specifically on the evidence-base for age-friendly interventions. We are looking for contributions which are rooted in interdisciplinary, rigorous methodological and verifiable science. We look forward to submissions that are theoretically focused and empirically grounded on the topic of urban development and ageing populations.
We invite papers from any discipline or inter/intra disciplinary approaches, with a preference for submissions from non-Anglophone countries as the current discourse is saturated with papers from these countries. Submissions from middle- and low-income countries are particularly welcomed, as they help broaden the scope of the age-friendly discourse with new perspectives. Submissions may include empirically driven articles, conceptual papers addressing themes from any global context, and critical commentaries, advancing policy and scholarly debates. Additionally, we encourage review articles that assess age-friendliness of the urban environment, and outline current trends and developments aligned with the theme of this call, in particular review articles that deal with measurement and outcomes of the age-friendly movement. Also, we look at an extension of the current discourse of age-friendliness with topics like (but not exclusively) sustainability, financial aspects and technology in the broadest sense of the word.
Please note that the primary focus of the call is to advance conceptual understanding. For empirical papers, the journal expects a strong theoretical framework to be incorporated. Additionally, while findings may be grounded in specific contexts and provide practical insights, the discussion should meaningfully contribute to broader theoretical and conceptual understandings of the dynamics and lived experiences within age-friendly cities.
Contributions may address a range of topics, including but not limited to:
Scholars planning to write a systematic or scoping review about age-friendly cities and their impact on health and well-being are welcomed to submit their manuscript. Many of the currently available review papers are outdated (over 10 years old) and were not based on a pre-registered protocol. These documents need a serious overhaul in order to include the latest available evidence from around the world. We encourage prospective authors to include both qualitative and quantitative evidence in such review papers, with a clear appraisal of the quality of the included studies. We would encourage authors to pre-register a protocol for such endeavor. Other topics for review papers could be the methodologies used for assessing the age-friendliness of cities, the intersection with other domains (finance, technology, leisure), and bibliometric analysis.
Submissions are welcomed on new methodologies to assess the age-friendliness of cities and communities. In recent years, various scholars from around the world have come up with novel (quantitative) instruments to measure the age-friendliness of cities, or of community-based projects. We are interested in both development and validation papers of novel instruments that can help cities gathered quantitative data among older people or help improve the efficacy of projects. Mixed-method approaches are also considered, as well as cinematography (film) and other anthropological methods that are clearly elevated above the standard interviews and focus groups sessions that often feature in so-called co-creation and co-production studies. Multi-country studies with a focus on the cross-cultural validation of tools are particularly welcomed.
The lead editors are interested in an emerging field of age-friendly research, namely geospatial studies using GIS that assess the domains of age-friendliness as defined by the WHO and other known parameters. Geospatial analysis provides a powerful approach to assess walkability, accessibility, spatial equity, and proximity to age-friendly infrastructure in the built environment. Such tools are also at the core of modern urban design. Papers may explore mapping barriers, identifying “hot spots” or underserved areas, and analysing spatial inequalities across areas in greater detail using a variety of methods. This focus highlights the role of geography in advancing age-friendly environments and informed decision-making to improve the well-being of ageing populations. Geospatial tools provide scholars with a set of new methods that supplement the readily available quantitative methods for the evaluation and assessment of age-friendliness.
We welcome contributions that connect the current age-friendly discourse to emerging fields, in particular, sustainability (see recent 2024 WHO report on older people and the SDGs), new technologies that support people in their daily lives, leisure and age-friendly tourism, age-friendly businesses and enterprises, age-friendly hospitals, age-friendly universities, as well as the interplay of financial elements (disposable income) with the experienced age-friendliness. Such papers can also be more theoretical thought pieces. Empirical studies showing the effects of age-friendly interventions beyond the standard WHO-model are particularly welcomed, as they help expand the current discourse and narratives in the field.
Building on the call for manuscripts on novel methodologies for the assessment of age-friendliness, case studies or multi-country studies of the quantitative assessment of cities are welcomed, using validated instruments or other quantitative methodologies. In recent years, the scientific community has worked on a range of new methods for the assessment and evaluation of age-friendliness, or its separate domains defined by the WHO. We ask scholars to use these tools, scales, instruments and checklists to assess cities, communities and projects alike, and report on the outcomes of interventions. Multi-centre or multi-country studies are particularly welcomed.
Submissions are invited of papers investigating the elements of policy-making and urban design based on the available evidence in the domain of age-friendly cities and communities. Many scholars around the world work together with one of the 1700 members of the Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. In their capacity, they help shape evidence-informed policies and action programmes at the city and community level. For such contributions, collaborations with people working with cities, councils and municipalities (i.e., co-authorship) would be welcomed. The inclusion of a set of evidence-informed recommendations for a particular city, community or jurisdiction are encouraged. Further, submissions are invited of papers investigating actual age-friendly designs of the urban environment, including infrastructures, parks and public buildings, in which architects, urban designers and others investigate and further reflect on how the scientific evidence-base informs designs of our urban landscape. Richly illustrated case studies or best practices of designs are welcomed. These contributions can be freer in their form of reporting, but an extensive integration with the scientific knowledgebase and in-depth analyses of how evidence was used to make design choices will be encouraged from authors submitting under this category.
Authors interested in contributing to this theme have two options for submission: 1) full-length paper submission, and 2) abstract submission for prioritised assessment.
Note that we strongly encourage authors to submit abstracts and papers before the suggested deadlines. We will process abstract and paper submissions as and when received. The invited full manuscript submissions will be prioritised during the internal screening and external review processes at the Journal. In addition, unlike standard special issues that are published as a group when they are ready, the Journal is committed to the timely publication of the accepted papers under this call. The Journal will curate the accepted papers as an online collection and publish them individually in hardcopy as and when they are ready.
Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate your interest and are excited to receive your contributions, which will help advance the dialogue on understanding Urban and Ageing Population.
Full-Length Paper Submission
Urban Studies encourages researchers to respond to this call through existing paper submission mechanisms at the Journal as soon as possible if you have a full-length paper ready for submission. To do so:
- Submit your full-length paper by Sunday 1 March 2026 to Urban Studies via the ScholarOne portal.
- Your paper must be formatted according to our guidance here.
- Ensure your cover letter states that the submission is in response to the Urban and Ageing Population call for papers.
- Tick the Special Issue category in both Step 1 and Step 5 on the ScholarOne submission form.
The standard peer-review process of the Journal will apply, including pre-screening by a theme lead. If the paper passes pre-screening, it will undergo review by external reviewers in the normal way. See here for information on our review process.
Abstract Submission for Prioritised Assessment
We encourage researchers who are still in the process of data collection, analysis, and/or writing to submit an abstract of 500 words outlining your research by Wednesday 1 October 2025 or earlier to our Editorial Office. Specifically:
- Abstracts will be reviewed on a rolling basis and those selected for advancement to a full manuscript invitation will be informed by Monday 1 December 2025 or earlier.
- If invited, the submission of the full manuscript will be due by Sunday 1 March 2026 or earlier. All invited manuscripts will be peer-reviewed following the standard USJ guidelines.
