This chapter discusses the inclusion and integration of a preliminary analytical person-environment fit framework which recognises the urban context as a key health determinant worldwide. It has become necessary to respond to growing levels of sedentarism, identified as a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, through incremental and tailored interventions, based on the ideas of complex adaptive systems. It is proposed that this framework can help to integrate and acknowledge the needs of older adults as a differentiated group where health models which concentrate on older adults as a unique and specialised demographic are called for in order to further research in understanding the pathways and mechanisms shaping their health behaviours, in particular highlighting internalised and individualised responses, understood here as concepts of fit between the individual and their surrounding neighbourhood and environments.

As cities and urban centres grapple to respond to ageing populations, there is a heightened awareness that the urban environments we live in play a key part in improving people’s health and wellbeing. Environments that are planned, managed, and inclusive in terms of spatial and physical form can help to promote and encourage health equity and wellbeing beyond a traditional ‘pathogenic’ focus on health risks and can provide a baseline for placing cities at the core of a more embracing understanding of the relationship between health and urban environments for older adults.@en