This is a study of 40 US and European cities by two economists whose main interests are in urban and regional competitiveness. The cities were broadly equally split between the United States of America (USA), the European Union, and, specifically, Italy, on the basis that Italy has the oldest population structure. Interviews were held with government officials and spokespersons for educational and cultural institutions, and most of the material provided is based on these interviews. This is not a study that engages with ‘seniors’ themselves and nor it is one that provides economic data, nor many references to such data, to back its arguments, possibly because relevant data are limited. What it does provide are initial insights into the wider economic, political and social processes that determine the extent to which seniors are catered to by cities, cultural and educational institutions, and private housing development.

The argument is that underlying much public policy is an overstatement of the net costs of older people on the next generation, that long-term care costs are concentrated in the last three years of life, that current and future generations of seniors are healthier, wealthier, more educated and more mobile than in previous generations and, consequently, have a greater demand for intellectual and educational engagement than ever before. The authors argue that it is possible to maximise seniors’ net contribution to society if they live in supportive communities and that, in the context of expanding residential mobility and the increasing demand for cities to be self-financing, cities need to make much greater efforts to attract seniors as residents and tourists. The book provides an overview of the advantages seniors provide to cities, particularly as consumers of culture, leisure and education, as volunteers, as donors to cultural institutions, as a necessary cohort in the rejuvenation of decaying urban centres (in a context where young families move to the urban periphery), and in making and sustaining urban vibrancy and safety. Kresl and Ietri identify best practice across the cities studied.

The authors struggle with their categorisation of ‘seniors’ and with the objective of disaggregating people in later life by socio-economic status to reveal the positive role of the wealthy, healthy, mobile and educated. At the beginning the book claims to be about ‘seniors’ aged 55–75 years; the ‘aged’ being defined as older, poorer, less mobile and as providing little potential for urban competitiveness. By the end of the book even people into their late eighties are presented as contributors to the urban economy. Similarly, while the front end of the book forcefully argues for the positive role of a small proportion of seniors to urban economies through their purchase of high-end real estate, engagement in high-brow culture, education and fine dining, by the end of the book we are being asked to consider the net contribution of all older people, irrespective of their wealth, simply by virtue of their being active in their communities. Being present on the streets, volunteering (in schools, with the immobile and immigrants) and engagement in cultural and lifelong learning institutions makes European cities, especially Italian cities, vibrant and safe for everyone, ensuring they are places others wish to relocate to or visit. This shift from the wealthier and more educated older generations to supportive intergenerational communities parallels the structuring of the book from initial chapters on the USA to later ones on the European Union and Italy. The authors emphasise the differences in propensity to relocate between American, European and Italian seniors as well as the greater European and Italian emphasis on public transport. However, one cannot help wondering whether the authors’ greater sensitivity to the contributions of all older people was the outcome of real empirical differences, the public policy orientations they encountered or to their own journey in the field of gerontology. I am left curious as to what is the contribution, as well as the potential contribution, of all US seniors to their communities, 80 per cent of whom do not have university degrees. The chapter on Italy, which drops the emphasis on higher wealth and education, suggests the answer is likely to be: a lot more than is generally recognised.

Despite the early chapters rehearing tired, partial and sometimes erroneous statements about the ‘ticking time bomb’, the demand of older generations on younger generations and on taxpayers (as though older people are not themselves taxpayers!) and developing countries having no foreseeable ageing problem (despite the World Health Organisation's forecast that by 2025 70 per cent of all people aged over 60 will be living in developing countries), Kresl and Ietri draw our attention to a number of important issues. The most fundamental of which is that the current system of accounting costs across the generations and between individual and society is not just distorted and age unfriendly but, ultimately, cities and regions that do not realise this will lose out to those that do.