Place identity and older residents’ coping strategies while ageing in declining neighbourhoods of urban China

Abstract

Ageing in place enables older people to remain in familiar places, namely their homes and neighbourhoods, for as long as possible. However, neighbourhood decline and/or personal capacity decreases can threaten people's plans to age in place. Existing studies have paid great attention to creating supportive home environments to alleviate the pressures on older people induced by declining personal competence. However, this neglects the dynamics and the agency of places such as neighbourhoods in people's ageing process. Therefore, the present study examines how neighbourhood-based resources, especially older peoples' place identity, affect their experiences of ageing in declining neighbourhoods in Shenyang, China. A transcript analysis of 43 semi-structured interviews was conducted, showing that older residents from declining neighbourhoods face triple dysfunctions (social, cultural, and structural) due to the retreat of existing social ties, family safety nets, and institutions in various dimensions of their life. They also suffer from physical environmental degradation and residential composition changes in their neighbourhoods. Consequently, they rely on place identity to cope with environmental decline and decreasing personal competence. We found that older people can benefit from the recognition function of place identity, which provides physical and social insideness with their neighbourhoods and helps them recognize resources essential to their wellbeing. Moreover, the mediating change function and the defence function of place identity motivate them to adopt pro-environmental behaviours or to visit their past memories to sustain their sense of continuity and combat various neighbourhood declines. However, place identity and its associated anxiety and defence function also prevent older residents from adapting to the social changes induced by population turnover, and this further hinders them from socialising with migrant renters. This study also explores implications of the results and provides recommendations for policy and further research.