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Atlanta Not Ready For Pending 'Senior Boom'

Posted by: Alex Pearlstein

20 February 2007 - 7:00am

With Metro Atlanta's senior population set to mushroom, the region's planning agency says that area communities are not prepared to deal with the consequences of an aging population.

"The number of metro Atlantans over the age of 55 will more than double by the year 2030, rapidly increasing needs for transportation, housing and health care for these people, the head of the region's planning agency said Saturday. Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Region Commission, said the 10-county metro area is not ready for the senior growth, and it's time for a major shift in thinking."

"He pointed to a draft of an ARC study that said by 2030, the region will see a 127 percent increase in the number of people 55 and over... Older adults want to live near their families, the study said, noting that preference raises some concern about the housing construction for seniors on the outer edge of the region, removed from communities where their children and grandchildren live."

"Stressing that transportation in metro Atlanta continues to be a challenge for seniors, the survey found many people worry about how they will get around once they can no longer drive."

Full Story: Metro not ready for age boom
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 18, 2007
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People need to stop thinking about cities as bundles of technical problems that the planners must solve for them and to start thinking about the different ways that they would live in different types of cities.
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