Knoxville has been recognized as a member of AARP's Network of Age-Friendly Communities. We were just the second city in Tennessee to attain the designation, and currently, Knoxville is one of four Tennessee Age-Friendly Cities.

The recognition was made official Wednesday at the Knoxville Chamber, as Jana Lynott, a senior strategic policy advisor at AARP, led a discussion involving regional planners and elected officials on what makes a community livable.

Mayor Madeline Rogero said the recognition means a great deal to City staff and partners at Active Knox, MPC, TPO, Knoxville Area Transit and other entities that are promoting accessibility and inclusion. It's also a strong affirmation of the efforts by neighborhood leaders and advocates, who support the broad, collaborative efforts to increase walkability, expand transit options, and create great public spaces, the Mayor said.

The designation doesn’t necessarily mean that Knoxville is the perfect model for a city where you can grow old in place. Not yet, anyway.

Likewise, it doesn’t automatically mean that this is a great place to retire – although, that may very well be the case with Knoxville. CNBC last week reported an analysis by SmartAsset. Knoxville made the Top 10 list of U.S. cities with an affordable cost of living for retirees, and the news coverage showed a photo of people enjoying Market Square on a sunny day.

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Being honored as an Age-Friendly Community, AARP says, is a recognition of the commitment by the local elected leadership to make a particular city or county a great place to live for people of all ages.

Knoxville invests in infrastructure that promotes walkability and transit.

We encourage and help to financially support new affordable housing.

We're expanding access to transit services, and improving the frequency and convenience of those services.

And we’re creating fully-accessible outdoor spaces. (Fully-accessible Suttree Landing Park is a great example of a wonderful new outdoor space, Mayor Rogero noted in her remarks at the luncheon. "We’ll double down on that investment in the coming year," she said, when a pavilion and accessible kayak launch are built.)

For more details about AARP's Age-Friendly Network, click here.