© 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings,interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The WorldBank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does notguarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, andother information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The WorldBank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges andimmunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, you arefree to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under thefollowing conditions: Attribution—For this EAP Regional Paper, please cite as follows: Arai, Yuko, Khan, Ibrahim Ali. 2023.“Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities EAP Regional Paper.” World Bank, Washington, DC. Thisis a regional paper written for the East Asia and Pacific Region, based on “Silver Hues: BuildingAge-Ready Cities” which was produced by a team from the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster RiskManagement, Resilience and Land Global Practice comprised of: Maitreyi Das, Yuko Arai, Vibhu Jainand Terri Chapman. Translations—If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with theattribution: This translation was not created by The World Bank and should not be considered an officialWorld Bank translation. The World Bank shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation. Adaptations—If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer alongwith the attribution: This is an adaptation of an original work by The World Bank. Views and opinionsexpressed in the adaptation are the sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and arenot endorsed by The World Bank. Third-party content—The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the contentcontained within the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of any third-partyowned individual component or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of those thirdparties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re-usea component of the work, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for thatre-use and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include, but arenot limited to, tables, figures, or images. All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World BankGroup, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Cover and chapter opener photo: Victor Popovic, Slovak Republic, Untitled, 2000, mixed media and collageImage courtesy of the World Bank Group Art Program. Cover design: Takayo Muroga Fredericks SILVER HUES:BUILDINGAGE-READY CITIESEAP REGIONAL PAPER Yuko AraiIbrahim Ali Khan Contents AbbreviationsIV AcknowledgmentsV Introduction1Regional Trends in Aging3Aging and Urbanization5Aging across Income Levels8Who are Older Persons?9Building Age-Ready Cities11Universal Design toward Age-Readiness14Housing Solutions for Age-Readiness17Mixing It Up: Creating Multigenerational “Spaces” toward Age-Readiness18Getting Around: Age-Readiness through Improved Transportation19Vision and Action toward Age-Readinesss20Conclusion22Annex 123 Endnotes25 References26 Figures Figure 1. Why Focus on Age-Ready Cities?2Figure 2. Regional Variation in Aging, 1969–20503Figure 3. Aging in Pacific Island Countries, 2020 and 20504Figure 4. The Confluence of Aging and Urbanization5Figure 5. Median Age of the Population is Rising with the Share of Population in Urban Areas7Figure 6. Aging Populations by Country Income Group in 20208Figure 7. Population Projections of Older Persons by Income Group, 2020–21009Figure 8. Female-Male Ratio of Older Persons in Top Five Aging Countries in the Region10Figure 9. Attributes of Age-Ready Cities11Figure 10. Six Action Areas to Enhance Age-Readiness in Cities13Figure 11. Six Steps toward Age-Readiness21 Boxes Box 1. Socioeconomic Challenges of Older Persons in Seoul10Box 2. Gathering Data to Improve Accessibility in Indonesian Cities11Box 3. Leveraging Technology for Age-Readiness in Singapore12Box 4. Aged Care Policies in Malaysia12Box 5. Creating Age-Friendly Communiti