Providing the first UK assessment of environmental gerontology, this book enriches current understanding of the spatiality of ageing.
Sheila Peace considers how places and spaces contextualise personal experience in varied environments, from urban and rural to general and specialised housing. Situating extensive research within multidisciplinary thinking, and incorporating policy and practice, this book assesses how personal health and wellbeing affect different experiences of environment. It also considers the value of intergenerational and age-related living, the meaning of home and global to local concerns for population ageing.
Drawing on international comparisons, this book offers a valuable resource for new research and important lessons for the future.
Introduction 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
175 11 Environment Introduction Environmental policy is a large and diverse field which has hitherto held a marginal position in relation to social policy. Huby (1998), an early pioneer in attempts to bring the environment into social policy, presents a classification of the range of problems caused by human activity which potentially lead to policy responses. She details these in terms of the problems caused by the use of natural resources, such as physical degeneration of the landscape, land subsidence, flooding and soil degeneration; the problems caused
) report that talking to the family about housing, care and end of life are some of the most difficult conversations older people may have that may encourage change. This chapter focuses on alternative environments of housing and care that for some are the outcome of that change. While discussions may range from good ideas to recognising insufficient knowledge about alternatives, the ability or motivation to move may never be considered by those who decide to stay put. Living with others who are non-family members in a form of communal living is experienced by many
141 CHAPTER SEVEN Environment and sustainability introduction The role of the EU in environmental policy is critical to its powers and identity. Environmental effects are not contained within administrative borders. Regulatory standards can impose costs on business and their absence can transfer costs to communities and taxpayers. It is a policy arena where the stimulus for joint action has come from external agreements similar to trade (see Chapter Five). The environment has been used in conjunction with internal policy objectives to promote the single
181 eight health and environment Glenda Verrinder overview International policies have failed to arrest the widening gap of health inequalities between the most and least deprived and also failed to arrest escalating rates of environmental degradation. This chapter argues that: • in order to address the determinants of health in a sustainable way, national and international policies need to cut across different sectors to protect and promote the health of the planet and of humans; • despite the many policy failures, social and public policies remain a
Africa’s urban population is growing rapidly, raising numerous environmental concerns. Urban areas are often linked to poverty as well as power and wealth, and hazardous and unhealthy environments as the pace of change stretches local resources. Yet there are a wide range of perspectives and possibilities for political analysis of these rapidly changing environments.
Written by a widely respected author, this important book will mark a major new step forward in the study of Africa’s urban environments. Using innovative research including fieldwork data, map analysis, place-name study, interviewing and fiction, the book explores environmentalism from a variety of perspectives, acknowledging the clash between Western planning mind-sets pursuing the goal of sustainable development, and the lived realities of residents of often poor, informal settlements. The book will be valuable to advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses in geography, urban studies, development studies, environmental studies and African studies.
1 INTRODUCTION Urban environments in Africa Introduction Urban studies as a field is on the rise in Africa, environmental studies is a mainstay of scholarship on or about the continent, and urban environments are increasingly central to urban studies as a field. Yet, it is still rare to find works that offer political-environmental analyses of urban issues or urban analyses of environmental issues for Africa. This is beginning to change, but thus far, most of the works produced target one issue—for example, water or solid waste—and usually for one city
about these contexts is to focus on the environments within which the social problems exist and in which efforts to address them through the adoption of social policies take place. In other words, there is a need to observe the structural, social and professional environments that have a potential impact on decisions by social workers to engage (or not) in the diverse policy routes and the forms that this will take. In this chapter, we discuss four distinctive environments that have an impact on the policy engagement of social workers. While a cross
practice, and alerting us to the need for reflection around what works best. If community workers are to be fully effective, we suggest, they need to be fleet of foot and connected to current and emerging sources of impact of the climate crisis on those with whom we work. This chapter is divided into two main parts. Firstly, we look at the theory of how we can link what we do as community workers to the environment, and secondly, we engage in more focused discussion on what this means in some key areas of practice. Social justice and the environment We need
