“Ageing in Place” and Urban Regeneration: Analysing the Role of Social Infrastructure

Abstract

This article explores the potential impact of future urban regeneration for older people “ageing in place” in an inner-city neighbourhood, Collyhurst, Manchester, UK. Collyhurst has been reshaped by de-industrialisation, demolition of housing, disinvestment in local services, and the closure of local amenities. The neighbourhood has been earmarked for significant urban regeneration including building extensive housing, as well as social infrastructure to cater for existing residents and attract a new population. The analysis focuses on data derived from interviews and focus groups with the neighbourhood’s existing residents as well as regeneration stakeholders. Drawing on Latham and Layton’s (2019) “infrastructural approach,” the analysis explores the changing dynamics of neighbourhoods and meanings of place for older people living in localities undergoing redevelopment with spatially differentiated socio-economic landscapes. The article argues that social infrastructure must be understood as a foundational component of urban regeneration planning, ensuring new spaces foster social connections for all generations and support older residents’ sense of local identity, belonging and inclusion amidst dramatic material transformation. Social infrastructure provides an important lens through which to analyse the impact of urban regeneration processes, shedding light both on the <em>functional</em> and <em>affective</em> dimensions of ageing in place. In neighbourhoods undergoing redevelopment, both dimensions are vital to consider, in order to understand how best to support older people’s ability to age in place.