Place (in)securities: older adults’ perceptions across urban environments in the United Kingdom ((In)seguridades de lugar. Percepciones de las personas mayores en distintos entornos urbanos del Reino Unido)

The ageing in place agenda emphasises the importance of supporting older adults to age in their communities surrounded by the personal resources to age well. In exploring the relationship between older people and their environment, the concept of place insideness is seen as central to constructing feelings of identity, belonging and attachment in old age. Yet there has been little research exploring how older adults experience place insideness across different urban, social and cultural contexts which is an impediment to identifying effective interventions for age-friendly cities and communities. This article explores how place insideness is experienced amongst older adults across India, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The article presents qualitative findings from 294 semi-structured interviews collected across 9 cities and 27 neighbourhoods. The findings reveal that older adults cultivate their sense of place insideness in old age through dimensions of physical insideness (i.e., environmental competence in navigating and engaging in the community), social insideness (i.e., knowing others) and autobiographical insideness (i.e., shared place histories). In drawing on older people’s understanding of their communities, this article explores the opportunities and challenges in developing a sense of place insideness to support ageing well. We identify implications for policy and practice in terms of how we can better design urban environments as age-friendly communities which support a greater sense of place for older people.

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‘You really do become invisible’: examining older adults’ right to the city in the United Kingdom

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x21001793 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Deborah Menezes ◽

Ryan Woolrych ◽

Judith Sixsmith ◽

Meiko Makita ◽

Harry Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Urban Space ◽

Urban Environments ◽

World Health ◽

Active Ageing ◽

Ageing Population ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

The City ◽

Rights To The City

Abstract A global ageing population presents opportunities and challenges to designing urban environments that support ageing in place. The World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities movement has identified the need to develop communities that optimise health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Ensuring that age-friendly urban environments create the conditions for active ageing requires cities and communities to support older adults’ rights to access and move around the city (‘appropriation’) and for them to be actively involved in the transformation (‘making and remaking’) of the city. These opportunities raise important questions: What are older adults’ everyday experiences in exercising their rights to the city? What are the challenges and opportunities in supporting a rights to the city approach? How can the delivery of age-friendly cities support rights to the city for older adults? This paper aims to respond to these questions by examining the lived experiences of older adults across three cities and nine neighbourhoods in the United Kingdom. Drawing on 104 semi-structured interviews with older adults between the ages of 51 and 94, the discussion centres on the themes of: right to use urban space; respect and visibility; and the right to participate in planning and decision-making. These themes are illustrated as areas in which older adults’ rights to access and shape urban environments need to be addressed, along with recommendations for age-friendly cities that support a rights-based approach.

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Constructing and negotiating social participation in old age: experiences of older adults living in urban environments in the United Kingdom

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x19001569 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ryan Woolrych ◽

Judith Sixsmith ◽

Jenny Fisher ◽

Meiko Makita ◽

Rebecca Lawthom ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Old Age ◽

Social Participation ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Active Ageing ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Outdoor Spaces ◽

Community Facilities

Abstract The age-friendly cities and communities movement has focused on how to better support older adults to age well within urban environments. Central to ‘ageing well’ and ‘active ageing’ agendas is ensuring that older adults can participate in meaningful forms of social participation. The benefits of social participation in old age have been well documented, and research amongst community-dwelling older adults has explored some of the neighbourhood qualities that facilitate or impede such forms of engagement. However, understandings of how older adults construct and negotiate social participation within everyday urban environments have been largely unexplored. To address this gap, we present results from 104 interviews conducted with older adults living in three cities and nine neighbourhoods in the United Kingdom (UK). The findings explore three themes generated from the research: ‘constructing meaningful social participation in old age’, ‘negotiating access to social participation’ and ‘navigating home and community’. Across these themes, the paper describes how experiences of social participation in old age involve a number of inter-connected physical, psychological and social processes experienced by individuals across a range of environmental settings including the home, outdoor spaces and community facilities. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for practice, specifically in the delivery of age-friendly communities.

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