Some years ago, Joseph Coughlin and his team at the MIT Age Lab in Boston, developed an aging suit which physically simulated what it was like to navigate the world as an older person. It led to widespread design and policy changes which expanded and made safer daily life for older adults. By “walking in their shoes” engineers, city planners, and policy developers became acutely aware of what was needed.

But what about the other aspects of growing older? Aging well, research has definitively shown, requires attention to not only the physical aspects of our lives, but also the intellectual, emotional, social, and the ever-important sense of meaning and purpose.

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