AARP International
AARP International

Upcoming Virtual Spotlight

Vibrant Encores: Vacant Buildings Helping to Solve the Housing Crisis
April 23, 2024 | 11:00 AM ET


Innovative adaptive reuse of unused and underused buildings is helping solve the affordable housing crisis and providing lifelong housing as people age.

Featured Speakers:

David Block, FAIA AICP, Director of Development
Evergreen Real Estate Group


Sheryl McMullen, Manager, Investment & Marketing
Downtown Strategy
City of Calgary, Canada

Drew Roskos, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Principal
Perkins Eastman



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Key Insights

One-minute expert provocations.

Creating Inclusive Cohousing
A sustainable, supportive,
multigenerational living option
Designing Shared Spaces for Older Adults
Mitigating isolation through design
Restroom Deserts:
Where to go when you need to go
Meeting our most basic human needs
Helping “Asset Rich, Cash Poor”
Older Homeowners
Housing more people by expanding
our existing housing stock
Indigenous Urban Planning
and Design
Planning informed by past, present,
and future generations
Residents Design Income-Tiered Housing
Model That Supports Economic Mobility
Addressing the gap in affordable rentals
Trauma-Informed Design
Creating a sense of safety for
vulnerable populations

January 23, 2024

Digital Twin Cities for All: Enabling Virtual Inclusion

Involvement of people of all ages in Digital Twin City (DTC) projects is critical to creating the accessible and equitable virtual urban environments that inform city planning.

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Featured Speakers

This virtual spotlight featured Silvia Urra, Senior Researcher in the Urban Transformation Lab of City, Territory and the Environment Area, TECNALIA; Marine Luc, Project Officer, AGE Platform Europe; and Dr. Mani Dhingra, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher / Smart City Digital Twin Manager, Maynooth University, Ireland

October 31, 2023

Intergenerational Ingenuity: Indigenous Urban Planning & Design

The seven-generation planning model incorporates the voices of elders as wisdom keepers and represents deeply held values and thousands of years of knowledge alongside modern approaches to planning and design.

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Featured Speakers

This virtual spotlight featured Dr. Theodore (Ted) Jojola , Director, Indigenous Design + Planning institute, CRP/School of Architecture, University of New Mexico and Dr. James Berghan, Senior Lecturer, Māori Designed Environments, Te Kura Waihanga | Wellington School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

June 20, 2023

Intergenerational Play Spaces - From Pocket Parks to Laundromats

The built environment in our communities plays a critical role in facilitating intergenerational engagement and play, which is not only beneficial but essential for people of all ages.

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Featured Speakers

This virtual spotlight featured Gil Penalosa, Founder, 8 80 Cities, and Founder, Cities for Everyone, Toronto, Canada and Professor Alison Stenning, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, UK.

March 21, 2023

Destination Equity: Travel for All

Almost all of us will experience some form of disability at some point—moreso as we age. Let’s figure out how to enable everyone to travel to visit relatives and friends and explore new places.

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Featured Speakers

Destination Equity: Travel for All featured Karen Fennessy, Age Friendly Programme Manager, Clare County Council, Ireland and Eric Lipp, Executive Director, Open Doors Organization, US

December 6, 2022

LBGTQ+/SGL - Affirming Housing for Older People

How do we provide spaces that are not only safe—physically, mentally and emotionally, but that also consider the unique life experiences of older queer people? Let's explore approaches and innovate housing developments that celebrate people's lives, histories and cultures.

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Featured Speakers

LGBTQ+/SGL - Affirming Housing for Older People featured Anna Kear, CEO, TONIC; Sydney Kopp-Richardson, Director, National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative, SAGE; and Dr. Imani Woody, President and CEO, Mary's House for Older Adults, Inc.

October 25, 2022

Universities as Age-Friendly Partners

Institutions of higher learning can play an important role in addressing the global affordable housing crisis, reducing loneliness, combatting ageism, and enriching the lives of students and
older adults alike.

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Featured Speakers

Universities as Age-friendly Partners featured Althea Pestine-Stevens, Program Manager, Age-Friendly North Jersey and Raza Mirza, Assistant Professor University of Toronto, and Director, National Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilization, HelpAge Canada.

September 20, 2022

Cohousing Creates Community

Cohousing is a type of intentional community that focuses on shared spaces, shared resources, shared time and shared values. New global insights and innovations can help expand the reach of cohousing to all people of all ages.

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Featured Speakers

New global insights and innovations can help expand the reach of cohousing to all people of all ages. Cohousing Creates Community discusses this movement with Casey Bastiaans, Outreach Coordinator of POCSHN (People of Color Sustainable Housing Network), Charles Durrett, Principal at The Cohousing Company, and Stig Hessellund, Project Manager at Realdania.

May 24, 2022

Restroom Deserts: Where To Go When You Need To Go

For older people, the uncertainty surrounding one's ability to access a public toilet causes many to stay home and can lead to isolation. Let's explore some restroom innovations to help ensure all members of society can actively engage in the public sphere.

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Featured Speakers

In this virtual spotlight Jack Sim of World Toilet Organization (WTO) and Genevieve Schutzius of Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human (PHLUSH) discuss restroom innovations that are helping to ensure all members of society can actively engage in the public sphere.

March 22, 2022

Quiero Mi Barrio “I Love My Neighborhood”
Urban Regeneration Program

The Chilean government partners with local governments and citizens themselves, to improve the quality of life in historically vulnerable neighborhoods across the country through spatial and social interventions.

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Featured Speakers

This virtual spotlight is about an urban regeneration program in Chile. Antonio Fritis, National Urban Area Manager for “Quiero Mi Barrio” (I love my neighborhood) discusses the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism program to improve the quality of life in historically vulnerable neighborhoods across the country through spatial and social interventions.

January 25, 2022

Build Equity Through Shared Equity

The uptick in building Accessory Dwelling Units has largely benefited wealthier homeowners, but interesting models based on sharing of equity are broadening the pool of beneficiaries.

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Featured Speakers

In this virtual spotlight, Sherry Taylor of Durham Community Land Trustees and Nichol Dehmer, Founder of YardHomesMN discuss models of Accessory Dwelling Units that are based on sharing of equity.

November 16, 2021

Lifelong Housing in the UK: A Living Lab

Future Homes Alliance is a grassroots group of residents from Newcastle, England, who came together to create lifelong housing through innovations in both the product and the process.

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Featured Speakers

In this virtual spotlight, Rose Gilroy of Future Homes Alliance discusses how a grassroots group of residents from Newcastle, England came together to create lifelong housing through innovations in both the product and the process. Hosted by Stephanie Firestone, AARP International.

October 12, 2021

Resident-led Design at Friendship Court

Piedmont Housing Alliance of Charlottesville, Virginia aims to build mixed-income housing, prioritizing zero displacement of existing residents.

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Featured Speakers

In this virtual spotlight, Sunshine Mathon and Charlene Green of Piedmont Housing Alliance discuss Friendship Court - a housing model where residents themselves act as co-designers of their future neighborhood. Hosted by Stephanie Firestone, AARP International.

September 28, 2021

Rightsizing in Place

Ava Housing, based in Ireland, shares an innovative new scheme—helping older homeowners to renovate their single family home so they can age in place, while creating and managing a new rental unit.

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Featured Speakers

In this virtual spotlight, Michelle Moore discusses Ava Housing, a shared housing approach in Ireland that both renovates houses to reduce obstacles for older adults and increases a community’s stock of affordable rental options. Hosted by Esther Greenhouse, Built Environment Strategist.

July 20, 2021

Regenerating Affordable and
Enabling Housing—at Scale

Clarion Housing Group in the UK provides social housing and develops affordable housing that is increasingly designed to enable people to live independently in those homes for as long as possible.

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Featured Speakers

In this virtual spotlight, Paul Quinn shares insights from Clarion Housing Group in the UK which provides social housing and develops affordable housing that is increasingly designed to enable people to live independently in those homes for as long as possible. Hosted by Stephanie Firestone, AARP International.

May 25, 2021

Public Participation in Planning Through PLAY

Espacio Lúdico in Santiago, Chile has a unique method of engaging the public to participate in planning open spaces—through play and games.

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Featured Speakers

In this 30 minute virtual spotlight, Jose Miguel Gomez and Carolina Carrasco of Espacio Ludico share insights from this unique method of engaging the public to participate in planning open spaces—through play and games. Hosted by Stephanie Firestone, AARP International.

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Complete this form to register for all of the Equity by Design Principles in Action case study virtual spotlights in this series.

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An innovation we should feature?
Want to collaborate or obtain more information?

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