The theoretical and practical development of the age-friendly communities is based on the concept of the active aging, which is used as a conceptual framework to understand the development of the age-friendly communities. Combining the theoretical framework and the practical cases in different countries, it is shown that the practical development of the age-friendly community experiences a transition from an "institutionalized" elderly care center to a "de-institutionalized" elderly care community, and then to the "aging in the place". The axiology of the age-friendly community studies also undergoes a shift from providing the instrumental supports for the elderly by the physically built environment to providing both instrumental and social emotional supports by a physically and socially built environment. This process gradually involves the inter-departmental cooperation. The age-friendly community studies based on the active aging concept provide both the scientific evidence and the practical implements for the construction of the age-friendly community in the rapid aging trend in China.

active aging  /  age-friendly communities  /  social participation  /  multi-subject cooperation