Health outcomes are often assumed to be attributable to the quality of medical care. However, we understand it is more linked to personal behavior, which is highly related to our built environment. In other words, health and well-being are determined not only by our genes and personal characteristics but also by the physical and social environments in which we live our lives.

Environments play an important role in determining our physical and mental capacity across a person's life course and into older age and also how well we adjust to loss of function and other forms of adversity that we may experience at different stages of life, and in particular in later years. Both older people and the environments in which they live are diverse, dynamic and changing. In interaction with each other they hold incredible potential for enabling or constraining Healthy Ageing.