The road ahead for older Canadians: Utilizing the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to create a research network and agenda on environment and healthy aging

The neighbourhood and community environments in which people live, work and play can contribute to aging in both positive and negative ways. However we have insufficient knowledge about which environmental characteristics are important to health and well-being. Longitudinal studies, those in which the same group of study subjects are observed multiple times over the study's duration, can improve our understanding of these relationships. The extensive, individual-level data from 50,000 people that will be collected in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) provides an ideal platform for studies of the impact of the neighbourhood environment on health. Furthermore, there are other detailed Canadian data-sets on the neighbourhood environment which can be combined with the CLSA data for new research. It is timely to build a new research network to carry out a research agenda on aging and the environment. Our Workshop will bring together International experts in the built and social environments with experts in aging research, policy and services, and will serve as a springboard for building this network and research agenda, and for developing research grants for several Canadian cities. The Workshop will yield new partnerships and concrete plans for new research and learning that can ultimately re-shape policy, practice and community design to encourage and support healthy aging, including active participation of older adults in all aspects of community life. The Workshop will be integrated with a CLSA Public Forum on healthy aging and the environment. The integration of these events conforms to CIHR's Citizen Engagement Framework, creating an opportunity for Workshop organizers and participants to have a conversation with the public and other stakeholders about their perceptions of neighbourhood impacts on health and aging. Information thus gathered will be useful for framing subsequent Workshop discussions.