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Environmental gerontologists who are concerned with researching the context of adult human experience and behaviour in later life regard person/environment (P–E) interaction as pivotal to ageing well. Consequently, Chapter 1 opens with the actor and their stage – the separate characteristics of older people and their environment based on lives in Western developed countries. By discussing these separately, they are then brought together to recognise interaction between them in everyday experiences. Finally, we move beyond this individualised interaction within specific contexts, recognising that P–E also must be addressed at a collective level. This has implications both in terms of levels of interaction and the methodology by which the evidence base and research methods, particularly participatory studies, are supported.
Under the heading of Person (P), attention is paid to the boundaries of ageing, in other words how an older person is defined in this text. Consideration is given to ‘successful’ or ‘active’ ageing and proposed definitions of ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ ages. Such definitions are grounded in a heterogeneity that sees each individual as uniquely gendered and ethnically, sexually and culturally distinct. Late life experience is built on an understanding of the self that takes a wider life course perspective. All these characteristics have implications for P–E interaction, and awareness of this diversity is necessary before underlying theoretical perspectives are addressed in Chapter 2. Environment (E) then comes to the fore, with the central concerns being space, place and materiality. The underlying relationship between space and place as social, economic, psychological and cultural is unpacked before public and private domains are examined.
To establish the scope of this chapter, I return to two key factors. First, as outlined in Figure 0.1, environments of ageing can be seen on different but interrelating spatial scales. Second, the relationship between environments seen at these different levels relates to individual behaviour and quality of life, which is revealed through interactions. These factors are considered in the light of theoretical developments taken from two bodies of work, social gerontology (in particular environmental gerontology) and the developing theoretical literature in geographical gerontology that extends our understanding of ageing through the spatial turn, as seen in Chapter 1. In general, theoretical perspectives from social gerontology are centred on the individual based at the local- or micro-level, what can be called the near environment – the dwelling, neighbourhood or community, with some matters relating to city, town and village. The concern here is how ideas can be extended so that environments of ageing can be recognised at both meso- and macro-levels of analysis, involving individual and collective behaviour. Here, perspectives offered by geographical gerontology may be beneficial, as they extend interdisciplinarity and participatory methods and particular theoretical approaches.
As clinical, physiological and psychological aspects of gerontology were studied during the 20th century (Kontos, 2005a), a human ecological perspective developed in the US and in Europe, and this underpins many ideas in environmental gerontology (Kleemier, 1959, 1961; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bernard and Rowles, 2013; Rowles and Bernard, 2013).
The housing problems of older people in one’s society are highly topical because of the growing number of retired people in the population and, especially, the yet-to-come increasing number of ‘very old’ people. Government policies on the care of older people have been forthcoming from Whitehall, but the issue of housing is just beginning to be seriously addressed. This book represents a first attempt at bringing together people from the worlds of architecture, social science, and housing studies to look at the future of living environments for an ageing society. Projecting thinking into the future, it asks critical questions and attempts to provide some of the answers. It uniquely moves beyond the issues of accommodation and care to look at the wider picture of how housing can reflect the social inclusion of people as they age.
The housing problems of older people in one’s society are highly topical because of the growing number of retired people in the population and, especially, the yet-to-come increasing number of ‘very old’ people. Government policies on the care of older people have been forthcoming from Whitehall, but the issue of housing is just beginning to be seriously addressed. This book represents a first attempt at bringing together people from the worlds of architecture, social science, and housing studies to look at the future of living environments for an ageing society. Projecting thinking into the future, it asks critical questions and attempts to provide some of the answers. It uniquely moves beyond the issues of accommodation and care to look at the wider picture of how housing can reflect the social inclusion of people as they age.
This chapter examines the interdependence of older women within the rural areas where they live. It tries to determine whether these are good places in which to grow old, and whether the physical and social character of these places influences the sense of self of the participants in later life. A comparison and contrast of the lives of people living in two distinct locations in the Western world — rural Canada and semi-rural England — is included.
To date, one’s thinking around ‘accommodation and care’ in later life focuses on very old people who are seen as unable to fit into mainstream housing and whose needs have been labelled as special, segregated, or separate, rather than accepting accommodation and care as part of society’s needs in general. However, at present, it is undeniable that people are becoming a part of an ageing population whose structure is changing and where there will be a great diversity of household types. This chapter explores the changing population, the type of society that is developing, how this is affecting where people live, and the experiences that many older people now face. It includes a brief discussion on population projections, geographical variations, and the changing nature of households and the social, psychological, and physiological issues relating to it.
Inclusive housing allows individuals to take part fully in their preferred mode of life. This chapter discusses the concept of inclusive housing: what it means, what it implies, and what it demands. With a vision of the future where desirable design features in general housing include planned accessibility and sustainability, this chapter examines inclusive housing and its application to housing the ageing society as well as the issues relating to the aspects of material and social environments, resources, technologies, and issues around choice and self-determination.
As people live longer, there is an increasing possibility of couples becoming separated because one partner moves into a care home. Our qualitative mixed-method pilot study in an English town involved eight married couples aged over 65 years to explore experiences and practices of couplehood in these circumstances. This article focuses on the most striking emergent element of expressed couplehood in these now challenged long-term relationships: commitment. Drawing on in-depth (biographical) individual and joint interviews, observations and emotion maps, this article explores how separation affected the couples’ current sense and enactment of commitment to the relationship. Commitment in the partnership is now often one-sided. How committed the community-living partner feels – and its enactment – is heavily shaped by the shared history of happy and unhappy periods in the relationships, current contextual constraints, and family and institutional support.
This chapter discusses age discrimination and ageism. It describes the authors’ experiences of coordinating the RoAD (Research on Age Discrimination) project. The authors recognise that this project calls into question their own identities as well as raising fundamental issues about how ‘old’ or ‘older’ is defined in the context of age discrimination. On the basis of accumulating evidence, the discussion also cautions that policies designed to tackle age discrimination could become overly associated with employment practices and a few other narrowly defined third age issues in relation to policies aimed at addressing the needs of older people experiencing health and social care problems.
Chapter 13 tests the inclusivity of age-friendliness for the lives of older people with sight loss living within English urban and rural communities. The chapter presents findings from an in-depth study with diverse groups of older people with vision impairment to consider how their needs and aspirations can be, or are being met in relation to the development of age-friendly cities and communities. The study identifies transport and the built environment as two important areas for vision impaired older people, emphasising the significance of more inclusive design, including assistive technology and accessible street design, in facilitating social inclusion. In order to move AFCCs policies forward, the authors conclude, the approach requires recognition of the heterogeneity of the ageing population and the importance of involving people in co-design and co-production of living spaces.
