U of U authors are prolific and the library strives to support U of U book authors by ensuring their works are in the collection. We also want every book to find its reader. This blog post series highlights some of the new books written or created by U of U authors this year. All are available from Marriott Library.

This time we’re highlighting Age-Friendly Ecosystems: Environments for Equitable Aging by Design co-authored by Valerie Greer and Linda S. Edelman. What follows is an interview with Greer highlighting her experiences as both a professor and an author.

Briefly introduce yourself and your work

I am an architect and I love design. I joined the University of Utah in 2020 through the Transforming Excellence Program focused on Healthy Aging and Resilient Places. My research examines the intersections of design and health, and how physical and social spaces construct platforms for aging well. I teach design studios and professional practice in the School of Architecture where I am an Assistant Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies.

What inspires you to write?

I am interested in how people are affected by their environments, and I have centered my research around how age-friendly communities can be designed to promote healthy, equitable, and productive aging while maintaining accessibility to all. My goal with writing is to share my findings and contribute to the interdisciplinary work that is needed to examine the diversity of contemporary challenges to aging. I believe that discourse and data are necessary to create pathways for measuring the impact of age-friendly initiatives and for charting new frontiers.

What is your book about?

Age-Friendly Ecosystems: Environments for Equitable Aging by Design is co-authored by Linda S. Edelman and myself. Age friendliness has grown from an idea into a social movement that recognizes the diversity of older adults and integrates research, policy, programming, and design practices. This book examines age friendliness from a place-based approach by examining neighborhoods, campuses, and health environments as sites uniquely positioned to catalyze age equity and inclusivity. In this book, editors draw upon their backgrounds in teaching, research, and practice in architecture and health to present initiatives and challenges to achieving age friendliness in these place types from interprofessional perspectives. The chapters present approaches to fostering age friendliness through new knowledge presented in the 2022 symposium, Age Friendly Communities as Platforms for Equity, Health, and Wellness, that was organized by editors to identify how neighborhoods, campuses, and health environments foster independence, productivity, and wellbeing among older adults. The ideas and experiences are presented by national experts in aging, as are ‘real world’ experiences and narratives shared by older adults, students, community stakeholders, and faculty researchers who participated in the symposium. Collectively the voices in this book create a lens for empowering neighborhoods, campuses, and health environments to be sites of social change for age friendly futures.

What’s it like to be an author at the U of U?

It’s empowering to be an author at the University of Utah and be able to conduct research that is important to people and communities as they age. I am inspired by my colleagues and thankful for their insight and support. I am excited to continue contributing to this field.