It is 2021. By 2050, if we survive the climate crisis (and any further pandemics), most reading this will be over 60 years old. And by 2100, according to a recent Lancet paper, there will be more than double the number of over-80-year-olds than under-5-year-olds in the world – a tenfold increase from 2017’s almost one-to-five ratio.1 Population ageing is real and, along with climate change, it is arguably one of the key challenges for the twenty-first century. This proportion of older people has never lived as long before but, as with climate change, we have the evidence and foreknowledge to be able to prepare and the built environment can play a significant role.
But what is ageing? Perception is not necessarily the same as reality. When you woke up this morning, you were
