As the drive towards creating age-friendly cities grows, this important book provides a comprehensive survey of theories and policies aimed at improving the quality of life of older people living in urban areas.In this book, part of the Ageing in a Global Context series, leading international researchers critically assess the problems and the potential of designing age-friendly environments. The book considers the different ways in which cities are responding to population ageing, ...

This stimulating volume examines the many faces of Australia’s ageing population, the social and health issues they contend with, and the steps being taken—and many that should be taken—to help ensure a more positive and productive later life. Individual and societal ageing are conceptualized as developmental in nature, socially diverse, and marked by daily life challenges stemming from the country’s economic structures, attitudes, geography, political landscape, and infrastructure. Wide-r...

The twentieth century bequeathed us a fabulous gift: thirty more years of life on average. Supersized life spans are going to radically alter society, and present an unprecedented opportunity to change our approach not only to old age but to all of life's stages. The ramifications are just beginning to dawn on us.... yet in the meantime, we keep thinking about, and planning for, life as it used to be lived.In A Long Bright Future, longevity and aging expert Laura Carstense...

In this moving and controversial Quarterly Essay, doctor and writer Karen Hitchcock investigates the treatment of the elderly and dying through some unforgettable cases. With honesty and deep experience, she looks at end-of-life decisions, frailty and dementia, over-treatment and escalating costs.Ours is a society in which ageism, often disguised, threatens to turn the elderly into a “burden” – difficult, hopeless, expensive and homogenous. While we rightly seek to curb treatment w...

Advanced Australia explores the politics of ageing in Australia. The addition of 25 years to average life expectancy in Australia over the past century is a monumental achievement, but many commentators are greeting the prospect of Australians living longer with horror. The ageing of Australia's baby boomers will sharpen this debate, both because of the size of their generation, as well as their history of reshaping every phase of life in their own image. Ageing will dominate Aust...

In this short, powerful book, Karen Hitchcock shines a light on ageism in our society. Through some unforgettable case studies, she shows what care for the elderly and dying is really like – both the good and the bad. With honesty and deep experience, she looks at end-of-life decisions and over-treatment, frailty and dementia.Dear Life is a moving and controversial argument against the creeping tendency to see the elderly as a “burden”—difficult, hopeless, expensive and ho...

Over the next three decades, the number of Americans over fifty will double, swelling to more than a quarter of the population. Already we are living thirty years longer than a century ago, with further gains expected in the coming years. The end result is a new stage of life, one as long or longer than childhood or middle age in duration, and one spent in unprecedented good health. Yet, as individuals, and as a society, we've shown little imagination or wisdom in using this great gift of ...

Although it is something that affects all of us, directly or indirectly, ageing can all too often be perceived negatively. Ageing and Caring is an essential, positive guide for older people, their carers and their families. It seeks to outline not only the challenges that can arise from ageing but also how active and rewarding life can continue to be in old age.From practical advice on remaining active in retirement, to guidance on coping with a loss of independence, Ageing and Car...

'Hi Dad . . . can we have a chat about your dementia . . . Can you remember how it started?'When Ron Husband started to forget things - dates, names, appointments . . . daft things, important things - it took a while to realise that this was 'a different form of forgetting'. But it was just the first sign of the illness that gradually took him away from the family he loved.This is the touching, illustrated story of Tony's father and how dementia slowly took him awa...

More than ever, the aging process is recognized as carrying a special set of emotional challenges–especially when acute or chronic medical conditions are involved. In this light, Psychodynamic Perspectives on Aging and Illness presents a fresh, contemporary application of psychodynamic theory, addressing the complex issues surrounding declining health. Informed by the spectrum of psychodynamic thought from self, relational, and classical theories, this forward looking volume offer...

Growing in Age draws on Anne Millar's years of working with older people through nursing, counselling and pastoral care.It covers many aspects of ageing:- Society and it's attitudes- The personal journey of ageing- How relationships change: on retirement, when a spouse dies and when older people divorce and remarry- Changes and challenges of loss and grief, depression, dementia and dying- Caring for older people in their homes, in family and in re...

While this book was written for male Baby Boomers and their significant others, it also includes Boomer history and what lies ahead as we experience the decade of our own sixties. This story reviews our Boomer luck, recounts the great history of being a kid in the 1950s, and the great opportunities provided by improved education in the 1960s, not to ignore a seemingly mind expanding culture. Turning sixty is not for the faint hearted. There are issues ahead. The first thing we all face is ...