Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
This chapter discusses how age-friendly programmes can advance social and spatial justice in cities through their involvement of older people from marginalised groups. It draws on the experience of the Ambition for Ageing programme, a programme of work aimed at creating age-friendly communities in Greater Manchester, to show how an explicit focus on issues of (in)equalities can help age-friendly programmes in reaching out to and involving older people living in low-income neighbourhoods as well as those from minority communities of identity and experience. It explores how the Ambition for Ageing programme did this through a focus on co-production, adopting a ‘test and learn’ approach and by reconsidering the different geographies at which older people experience marginalisation. It offers important lessons for future age-friendly programmes working with diverse communities.
This chapter argues that a critical urban gerontology must examine the power structures that shape inequalities within age groups and generations. This means examining the patterns and mechanisms of inequality in later life and how these reflect processes operating across the life course. So, rather than centring a distinction between younger and older people – in effect those pre- and post-retirement – this chapter proposes centring a discussion of class, racism and patriarchy, and how related processes operate to shape people’s experiences of later life. In doing so, it suggests that we need to move beyond partially theorised proximal processes and instead focus on fundamental causes that reflect how class, racism and patriarchy operate at macro (structural), meso (institutional) and micro (interpersonal) levels. It concludes with a discussion of why the reach of institutions into structural and interpersonal domains might make institutional transformation a valuable route to redress inequalities in later life.
This chapter re-evaluates the role of architects in developing Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, arguing that the current focus on designing physically accessible environments should be expanded to include broader issues of spatial ageism. We define spatial ageism as the ways in which the built environment is shaped by limited, medicalised or simplistic understandings of later life – a condition perpetuated through the conscious and unconscious prejudices of those involved in shaping the built environment. We propose participatory design practices as a way of addressing the entrenched, multifaceted marginalisation of older people within the urban environment. The chapter uses a case study in Manchester, UK to highlight how physical, social, economic and cultural exclusion can be addressed by valuing the equity, diversity and creativity of older people in the design process. By demonstrating that the link between societal prejudice and its manifestations in the built environment is reciprocal, we conclude by proposing that spatial justice in cities cannot be addressed unless urban designers are proactive in challenging ageism within their own practices.
Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
How can we design, develop and adapt urban environments to better meet the needs and aspirations of an increasingly diverse ageing population?
This edited collection offers a new approach to understanding the opportunities and challenges of creating ‘age-friendly’ communities in the context of urban change. Drawing together insights from leading voices across a range of disciplines, the book emphasises the urgent need to address inequalities that shape the experience of ageing in urban environments.
The book combines a focus on social justice, equity, diversity, and co-production to enhance urban life. Exploring a range of age-friendly community projects, contributors demonstrate that, despite structural obstacles, meaningful social change is achievable at a local level.
This chapter sets out the role of community organisations in creating spatially just age-friendly cities. Based on longitudinal qualitative research on how the community and voluntary sector in Greater Manchester in the UK responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, it argues that the pandemic highlighted the critical role that community and voluntary organisations played in responding to the needs of older people, particularly those belonging to marginalised groups of identity or experience, and those living in low-income neighbourhoods. However, the research also demonstrates the increasing pressures these organisations face, pressures which have been growing due to decreasing resources for public and community sector services for decades, and which are set to continue in many European countries. In this context, the chapter makes several recommendations for a community-centred approach to developing age-friendly cities, one that is based on principles of spatial justice and is vital both in supporting older people during future crises as well as in the everyday life of cities.
This chapter outlines the background, aims and research questions of the book, drawing on a theoretical framework which embeds age-friendly work in debates about spatial justice. It develops a novel definition of spatial justice and explores its potential in progressing the age-friendly agenda, drawing on the principles of equity, co-production and diversity. It calls for a radical, creative and aspirational approach to creating age-friendly communities, one which is informed by a community participation model to urban planning and which facilitates the active involvement of people of all ages, including older adults with diverse identities, capabilities, needs and ambitions. Combining interdisciplinary and cross-sectorial perspectives, it aims to inspire a radical reimagining of how we understand and support the ‘age-friendliness’ of urban neighbourhoods.
This chapter investigates how life course obligations, expectations and practices are linked to older adults’ sense of well-being. It takes a life course approach with a specific focus on linked lives. Linked lives recognises that life trajectories of individuals are socially embedded and closely linked to the transitions of significant others such as family members. Moreover, it is important to see linked lives as translocal as they include older adults in migrant households, their adult children (co-residing or migrant children), grandchildren, caregivers and non-kin social networks. To explore these issues qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 37 older adults. The participants included couples, widows and widowers. Participants in this study include both older adults co-residing with kin and older adults residing on their own. The results show that life stages and expectations of successful transition from one stage to the next was perceived as crucial for the offspring and for the older adults. The chapter observes that economic security, social support, health and better living conditions aid in realising the life course obligations and contribute towards the overall well-being of the older adults.
Insufficient social security systems make families primarily responsible for providing support to older adults in India. Increased mobility of adult children, fewer siblings and increased longevity of older adults are some of the demographic changes influencing care arrangements in Indian households. This chapter applies a qualitative research approach to examine the evolving nature of care frameworks for older adults in the Indian context. This is done through examining the changing household living arrangements and complexities that exist in identifying caregiving motives and primary caregivers to older adults, especially in an emigration context where older adults are left behind. This chapter serves to initiate dialogue on the negotiated intergenerational contract that seems to have evolved in the background of changing family situations and modernisation, however, serves to still make possible reciprocal support exchanges between older adults and their adult children. Findings from this study indicate that adult children from emigrant households are responsive to parental needs of support and find ways to effect supportive exchanges and care arrangements. The intergenerational care arrangements reflect the emigration event-led adaptation of family and household structure to retain traditional familial ties and enable mutually supportive exchanges between adult children and their parents.
India’s ageing population is growing rapidly; over 60s constitute 7% of the total population and this is projected to triple in the next four decades.
Drawing on a wide range of studies, this book examines living arrangements across India and their impact on the care and wellbeing of older people. Addressing access to welfare initiatives and changing cultural norms including co-residence, family care and migration, it reveals the diversity of living arrangements, cultural customs and the welfare issues facing older adults in India.
This book offers a crucial examination for practitioners, researchers and policymakers seeking to understand and develop the infrastructure required to meet the needs of older people in India.
