Aging & Social Change: Twelfth Interdisciplinary Conference is a forum for discussion of challenges and opportunities for a rapidly growing segment of the population worldwide. The process of aging is a concern for individuals, families, communities, and nations. The social context of aging provides a rich background for community dialogue on this, one of the critical questions of our time. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries.