Project aims

Our interests

The International Network on Population Ageing and Urbanisation has a particular interest in addressing issues concerned with:

  • combating poverty and social exclusion in urban neighbourhoods;
  • working with marginalised groups of older people; 
  • linking Age-Friendly policies to urban planning and urban design;
  • working to develop participatory methods with a wide group of stakeholders, including older people themselves; 
  • co-producing knowledge with stakeholders to facilitate impacts on policy and practice.

Our objectives

Since 2012 the Network has been developing an extensive programme of work focused on five main objectives:

  • To build a collaborative, international research-based network that draws together an inter-disciplinary group of practitioners, policy-makers and researchers (at all career stages).
  • To develop proposals for a major cross-national study that will examine different approaches, and the effectiveness of these approaches in building Age-Friendly Cities.
  • To identify relevant data-sets, other resources and methods for understanding the complex processes of ageing and urbanisation.
  • To build strong links between international research centres engaged with issues relating to ageing and urbanisation and their relationship to public policy.
  • To strengthen international discussion and support rigorous knowledge exchange on research and public policy issues on ageing and urbanisation.

Our mission statement

The International Network on Population Ageing and Urbanisation (INPAU) brings together leading research groups, local authorities, NGOs and charitable foundations engaged with the task of facilitating active ageing in urban environments.

The Network seeks to collaborate with a broad range of partners to develop high quality research contributing directly to public policy in a key area of global concern.

By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in cities, with – for communities in most high-and middle income countries – at least one-quarter of their populations aged 60 plus. Increasingly, cities will be charged with pursuing their role of leading economic development whilst ensuring the empowerment of diverse groups of older people.