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Creating Lifelong Communities in Metro Atlanta

August 2012

Every seven seconds a baby boomer turns 60.

This ticking clock counts down the arrival of a silver tsunami that will overwhelm traditional programs serving older adults. Like the rest of the country, metro Atlanta is not immune. Over the next 20 years, the older adult population in metro Atlanta will swell from one in 10 to one in five.

Healthy, active aging requires communities where people can live throughout their lifetime. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has acted by creating the Lifelong Communities Initiative, a groundbreaking place-based approach to creating communities where older adults can age in place and age well.

Lifelong Communities grew out of ARC’s long history of working to ensure that the region’s older adults had the services and programs they need to remain in the community. Realizing that well-being requires more than available services, ARC began to address how community design and local codes can contribute to can expand housing and transportation options so that seniors can remain the neighborhoods where they have lived for years.

The Lifelong Communities Charrette

Four years of grassroots work in local communities resulted in an innovative design charrette in 2009 led by the internationally recognized planning and architecture firm Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company. Disciplines that have traditionally operated in their own silos came together to rethink every aspect of how communities can work better for older adults. Over nine days, local officials, planners and professionals in the field of aging, health, transportation, housing and community design from both metro Atlanta and around the country, combined their knowledge to develop six conceptual master plans and core principles to show what lifelong communities look like.

Coming out of the charrette, seven principles were identified to help community leaders, planners, developers and citizens create communities that meet the goals of a Lifelong Community:

Connectivity
Pedestrian Access and Transit
Neighborhood Retail and Services
Social Interaction
Diversity of Dwelling Types
Healthy Living
Consideration for Existing Residents

Planners looked at how these principles can be adopted in communities and neighborhoods to promote healthy living and deliver comprehensive accessibility from inside the dwelling, down the street and into the restaurant, theater or store. Combining these principles with targeted programming, Lifelong Communities meet the new reality of increasing life expectancies and address the needs of all ages and abilities.

The City of Mableton - A Case Study

To take concepts to reality, the residents of Mableton, an unincorporated community in South Cobb County, became the first community in the region to implement the principles that grew out of the charrette. A grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging under its Community Innovations for Aging in Place program helped fund this initiative.

Residents of Mableton conducted a walkability assessment and participated in a second charrette that led to the adoption of a form-based code. New sidewalks are improving pedestrian safety, funded through a local option sales tax. A community garden and farmers’ market provide improved access to healthy foods and opportunities for neighbors to get to know neighbors.

The work is paying off. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging selected Lifelong Mableton for one of two 2011 Commitment Awards, because of its overall effectiveness, level of community involvement and outreach, use of innovative approaches and general environmental and health benefits.

After three years of intense work in Mableton, others communities in metro Atlanta have begun to support Lifelong Community principles and adopt best practices. Activities in these communities include new community gardens and farmers’ markets, better sidewalks and safer intersections, zoning changes, senior housing ordinances, transportation alternatives for non-drivers and healthy living initiatives. Local governments in counties and cities through the region have adopted resolutions supporting Lifelong Communities and demonstrating strong political support.

To ensure ongoing community support for Lifelong Communities, the Lifelong Communities Partnership, a coalition of local officials, developers, lenders and others who share ideas and best practices, have come together to support to communities as they work to implement Lifelong Communities framework.