Where to age happily: a quantitative assessment of Age-Friendliness in the districts of three Italian cities

This study examines perceptions of age-friendliness in districts across three Italian cities—Venice, Palermo, and Verona—using the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire (AFCCQ). By applying different clustering techniques, we aim to identify patterns of perception among socio-demographic groups and urban contexts, providing insights for age-friendly policy development. Despite their strengths, typical methods struggle to detect complex clustering structures which are indeed expected in our analysis, due to overlapping hierarchical structures reflecting administrative boundaries and neighborhood similarities in services, amenities, and proximity to city centers. We therefore contribute with the application infinite mixture model with kernels organized within a multiscale structure. Leveraging a careful specification of the kernel parameters, our method allows the inclusion of additional information guiding possible hierarchies among clusters while maintaining flexibility. By exploring clustering at multiple resolution levels, we capture broad patterns such as identifying whether a city is generally more or less age-friendly as well as finer distinctions among specific subgroups within districts.