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

Woolrych, Ryan; Sixsmith, Judith; Fisher, Jennifer; Makita, Meiko; Lawthom, Rebecca; Murray, Michael

doi:10.1017/s0144686x19001569

Cited by 36 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Two indicators are recommended: access to community centres and neighbourhood houses; and access to recreational services that cater to the needs of older people. Shared or ‘third spaces’ such as these are critical social infrastructure [ 25 ] and essential in supporting social participation for older adults [ 93 ]. Recreational services also support physical and mental health through opportunities for physical activity designed for older people and supporting community connections.…”

Section: Social Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities

Davern

Winterton

Brasher³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Guide was released by the World Health Organization over a decade ago with the aim of creating environments that support healthy ageing. The comprehensive framework includes the domains of outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, housing, social participation, respect and inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, and community and health services. A major critique of the age-friendly community movement has argued for a more clearly defined scope of actions, the need to measure or quantify results and increase the connections to policy and funding levers. This paper provides a quantifiable spatial indicators framework to assess local lived environments according to each Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFC) domain. The selection of these AFC spatial indicators can be applied within local neighbourhoods, census tracts, suburbs, municipalities, or cities with minimal resource requirements other than applied spatial analysis, which addresses past critiques of the Age-Friendly Community movement. The framework has great potential for applications within local, national, and international policy and planning contexts in the future.

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Section: Social Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities

Davern

Winterton

Brasher³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…In addressing inequality of opportunity there has been a focus on combatting social disadvantage, facilitating social wellbeing, and enabling continuing contributions to the communities in which people live (Kendig and Browning, 2010). Yet being able to take advantage of those opportunities is often complex for older people, and research has identified the difficulties in older people negotiating access to those supports (Woolrych et al, 2019). For example, a community may seemingly be agefriendly when mapping assets and resources, but this does not translate into ease of everyday use for older people.…”

Section: Ageing Urban Environments and Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For e.g. we know that older adults often adopt protective responses in times of adversity, they negotiate their built environment in unanticipated ways and they assume active roles within their community at times of transformation and change (Woolrych et al, 2019;Makita et al 2020). Age-friendly cities and communities need to create the opportunities for more citizen-led movements which enable a framework for positive change even when that coordination might be lacking at a government and formal institutional level.…”

Section: Participation and Equality In Age-friendly Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ageing in an Unequal World: Implications for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities

Woolrych

Sixsmith²

2020

PIXO

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFC) agenda has become a key policy driver for delivering urban environments that support older people to age in place. The movement has led to positive interventions at a city and community level alongside evidence of effective partnership working. Despite this, there are challenges in terms of how best to address widening societal inequalities in old age, where access to the resources and supports to age well are often compromised.The aim of this paper is to explore the implications of these inequalities on the agefriendly cities and communities agenda with specific reference to the challenges and opportunities to ageing in place. In doing so we reflect on different forms of inequality that impact older people (spatial, social and political), and the role of intersectionality in understanding the multiple forms of disadvantage that impact the ageing process.We draw out some specific recommendations for moving forward with the AFC agenda which are important if coordinated approaches to addressing ageing in place are to be achieved: challenging ageing inequalities and place; supporting rights within the context of ageing and the city; co-production and AFC; and integrated working and AFC. Addressing these key areas are integral to ensuring that the supports are in place at a city and community level to provide the opportunities and structures to support older people to age in place.Keywords: ageing in place, age-friendly cities and communities, inequality, place, intersectionality.

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“…In response to this, the ageing-in-place agenda has become focused on how older adults can be supported to live at home and in their community, where they can remain active, engaged, socially connected, and independent (Peace et al, 2011). Contemporary urban cities can be ‘unfriendly’ and ‘hostile’ to older adults, acting as a barrier to accessing social, economic and civic opportunities, and putting older adults at risk for isolation and loneliness (Scharf et al, 2005; Woolrych et al, 2019). In addressing this, international policy and practice has focused on the creation of age-friendly cities and communities as environments to encourage active ageing through mobility, respect and social inclusion, transport, housing, safety, and security (Buffel et al, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods: Exploring Place Insideness Amongst Older Adults in India, Brazil and the United Kingdom

Woolrych

Duvurru

Portella

et al. 2020

Psychology and Developing Societies

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

Cited by 36 publications

References 38 publications

How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities

How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities

Ageing in an Unequal World: Implications for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities

Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods: Exploring Place Insideness Amongst Older Adults in India, Brazil and the United Kingdom

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