Place-Making with Older Adults: Towards Age-Friendly Communities

巴西和英国的人口老龄化带来了新的挑战，即如何最好地设计生活环境，以支持和促进老年人的日常社会参与。“原地老龄化”议程认为，社区是老年人的首选环境，使老年人能够保持独立感、安全感和归属感。鼓励老年人留在他们的社区有助于规划和设计概念，如老年人友好型城市和社区，终身住宅和宜居社区。然而，目前的城市规划和发展模式忽视了地方感的概念，通过支持积极的生活、社会参与和有意义的社区参与来表达。将地方感融入建筑环境对于支持积极老龄化，确保老年人能够继续为其社区做出积极贡献，并可能降低健康和社会护理成本至关重要。该项目有三个核心目标：(i)调查生活在巴西和英国不同社区的不同社会背景的老年人如何体验地方感；（ii）将这些经验转化为长者友好社区的设计，以支持地方感；（iii）通过让社区参与研究的各个阶段，更好地阐明老年人在设计过程中作为积极的场所创造者的作用。我们将在巴西（佩洛塔斯、阿雷格里港和巴西利亚）和英国（爱丁堡、曼彻斯特和格拉斯哥）的6个案例研究城市的18个社区（不同密度和收入水平）进行实地调查。我们将使用一系列方法来实现项目目标，包括地点感调查和半结构化访谈，以及体验式方法，包括“走”，照片和视频日记以及社区测绘练习，以捕捉老年人的地点需求。生成的新数据将回答以下研究问题：(i)生活在巴西和英国不同社区的来自不同社会阶层的老年人如何体验地方感？㈡在不同的城市和文化背景下，需要哪些服务、便利设施和特色来创建有利于老年人的社区，促进健康城市和积极老龄化？（三）如何设计社区以更好地融合不同城市和文化背景下老年人的地方感需求？研究将采用基于社区的参与式方法，将所有利益相关者聚集在一起进行协作对话和共同设计，以挑战在“为”而不是“与”老年人进行规划时存在的等级权力关系。研究结果将用于共同创造场所制作工具和资源，这些工具和资源对于设计老年人友好的环境至关重要。研究结果将通过正在进行和结束的项目知识翻译活动传播给社区、决策者、从业者和学术受众。

Ageing populations in Brazil and the UK have generated new challenges in how to best design living environments that support and promote everyday social engagement for older people. The ageing-in-place agenda posits that the preferred environment to age is the community, enabling older people to retain a sense of independence, safety and belonging. Encouraging older adults to remain in their communities has contributed to planning and design concepts such as Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, Lifelong Homes and Liveable Neighbourhoods. However, current urban planning and development models have overlooked the notion of sense of place, articulated through supports for active living, social participation and meaningful involvement in the community. Integrating sense of place into the built environment is essential for supporting active ageing, ensuring that older adults can continue to make a positive contribution in their communities and potentially reducing health and social care costs. This project has three core aims: (i) to investigate how sense of place is experienced by older people from different social settings living in diverse neighbourhoods in Brazil and the UK; (ii) to translate these experiences into designs for age friendly communities that support sense of place; and (iii) to better articulate the role of older adults as active placemakers in the design process by involving the community at all stages of the research.We will undertake fieldwork in a total of 18 neighbourhoods (of varying densities and income levels) across 6 case study cities in Brazil (Pelotas, Porto Alegre, and Brasilia) and the UK (Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow). We will use a range of methods to achieve the project aims, including sense of place surveys and semi-structured interviews alongside experiential methods including 'go along' walks, photo and video diaries and community mapping exercises to capture the place-based needs of older adults. The new data generated will answer the following research questions: (i) How is sense of place experienced by older adults from different social classes living in diverse neighbourhoods in Brazil and the UK? (ii) What services, amenities and features are needed to create age friendly communities that promote healthy cities and active ageing in different urban and cultural contexts? (iii) How can communities be designed to better integrate the sense of place needs of older adults across different urban and cultural contexts? A community-based participatory approach will be adopted to the research, bringing together all stakeholders in a process of collaborative dialogue and co-design to challenge the hierarchical power relationships that exist when planning 'for' and not 'with' older people. The results will be used to co-create place-making tools and resources which are essential for designing age friendly environments for older adults. Findings will be disseminated to community, policymaker, practitioner and academic audiences through ongoing and end of project knowledge translation activities.