How Cities Can Grow Old Gracefully

For fans of David Sedaris and Nora Ephron, here is a humorous, irreverent, and poignant look at the gifts, stereotypes, and inevitable challenges of aging, based on the wildly popular New York Times essay from award-winning journalist Steven Petrow. Soon after his 50th birthday, Steven Petrow began assembling a list of “things I won’t do when I get old”—mostly a catalog of all the things he thought his then 70-something year old parents were doing wrong. That list, which included “You won’t have to shout at me that I’m deaf,” and “I won’t blame the family dog for my incontinence,” became the basis of this rousing collection of do’s and don’ts, wills and won’ts that is equal parts hilarious, honest, and practical. The fact is, we don’t want to age the way previous generations did. “Old people” hoard. They bore relatives—and strangers—with tales of their aches and pains. They insist on driving long after they’ve become a danger to others (and themselves). They eat dinner at 4pm. They swear they don’t need a cane or walker (and guess what happens next). They never, ever apologize. But there is another way . . . In Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old, Petrow candidly addresses the fears, frustrations, and stereotypes that accompany aging. He offers a blueprint for the new old age, and an understanding that aging and illness are not the same. As he writes, “I meant the list to serve as a pointed reminder—to me—to make different choices when I eventually cross the threshold to ‘old.’” Getting older is a privilege. This essential guide reveals how to do it with grace, wisdom, humor, and hope. And without hoarding.

This important new source provides greater insight into and awareness of housing experiences in other societies, allowing for a more informed assessment of our own national experiences and priorities. This unique compilation points to the value of cross-national work when dealing with these complex issues. Choice Housing issues and policy problems are both universal in scope and, at the same time, inherently specific to a given time and place. All countries are wrestling with their own housing problems and with the everyday mechanics of housing supply and regulation. Specific problems vary immensely from country to country and the policy instruments and institutions chosen to address those problems vary. As the chapters in this volume make clear, definitions of housing problems and approaches to housing policies are firmly embedded in particular national and cultural contexts. A long-awaited signal publication, this book is an important new source of analyses and information necessary to understand these contexts. It also is a major work of reference that provides the raw materials for undertaking comparative studies of housing issues and policy problems. The contributors are renowned authorities in the field who demonstrate how housing is worldwide an integral component of a nation's financial system, its social structure, and its political and policy making apparatus. Because this book provides greater insight in and awareness of experiences in other societies, it allows for a more informed assessment of our own national experiences and priorities. As the contributors make clear, there are no complete or simple solutions to contemporary housing problems. This unique compilation points to the value of cross-national work when dealing with these complex issues. It will be essential reading for scholars and policymakers alike who are concerned with housing issues.