Earlier this year, the Age-Friendly Futures Summit brought together over 300 researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and community representatives in Greater Manchester to explore the future of age-friendly cities and communities. The summit was delivered in partnership by the University of Manchester and its Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group (MUARG), Centre for Ageing Better (CfAB), World Health Organization (WHO), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).

The summit statement outlining ten objectives to guide future work has now been published. Particularly highlighted is the need to amplify older people’s voices in shaping age-friendly futures, calling for older people — particularly those from marginalised communities — to be routinely involved in the co-design, decision-making, and governance of services and systems. This includes co-producing leadership models and participatory research approaches that equitably include older people in knowledge creation and policy development.

These aims align closely with of summit co-host MUARG’s, (based at the University of Manchester), longstanding commitment to co-production. MUARG embeds co-productive principles across its research activities, working in partnership with older people and community organisations to ensure that lived experience informs both its research direction and outcomes. The MUARG Older People’s Forum plays a key role in this process, offering a platform for critical reflection and mutual learning.

The statement calls for strengthened collaboration across research, policy, and practice in order to build resilient ecosystems that support age-friendly programmes, address spatial inequalities, and embed equity, diversity, and inclusion within age-friendly frameworks. Participants also highlighted the importance of challenging ageism and promoting positive, inclusive perspectives on ageing across sectors and generations. The statement offers a shared framework for advancing age-friendly work globally, recognising ageing as a universal experience shaped by social, spatial, and political contexts.