‘You really do become invisible’: examining older adults’ right to the city in the United Kingdom

Deborah Menezes,James Henderson,Meiko Makita,Judith Sixsmith,Rebecca Lawthom,Michael Murray,Ryan Woolrych,Soledad Garcia-Ferrari,Harry Smith,Jenny Fisher

doi:10.1017/s0144686x21001793

Deborah Menezes, James Henderson + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x21001793

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Abstract

AbstractA global ageing population presents opportunities and challenges to designing urban environments that support ageing in place. The World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities movement has identified the need to develop communities that optimise health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Ensuring that age-friendly urban environments create the conditions for active ageing requires cities and communities to support older adults’ rights to access and move around the city (‘appropriation’) and for them to be actively involved in the transformation (‘making and remaking’) of the city. These opportunities raise important questions: What are older adults’ everyday experiences in exercising their rights to the city? What are the challenges and opportunities in supporting a rights to the city approach? How can the delivery of age-friendly cities support rights to the city for older adults? This paper aims to respond to these questions by examining the lived experiences of older adults across three cities and nine neighbourhoods in the United Kingdom. Drawing on 104 semi-structured interviews with older adults between the ages of 51 and 94, the discussion centres on the themes of: right to use urban space; respect and visibility; and the right to participate in planning and decision-making. These themes are illustrated as areas in which older adults’ rights to access and shape urban environments need to be addressed, along with recommendations for age-friendly cities that support a rights-based approach.

Highlights

Across the globe, urbanisation and ageing represent two critical societal challenges driving key policy decisions (Phillipson, 2011; Fitzgerald and Caro, 2017)
This discussion has been firmly grounded in theories of social justice and rights to the city (Imrie, 2011) which have conceptualised those rights in two interrelated ways: the right to appropriate the city in support of a full social participation, and the right to participate in the shaping of the city to enable political participation (Lefebvre, [1968] 1996, 1974; Purcell, 2002, 2003)
The analysis for this paper is based on qualitative data collected as part of a threeyear (2016–2019) mixed-method case-study project examining experiences of ageing-in-place, exploring the enablers and barriers to creating age-friendly cities (AFC)

Summary

Introduction

Urbanisation and ageing represent two critical societal challenges driving key policy decisions (Phillipson, 2011; Fitzgerald and Caro, 2017). In bringing about urban change, debate has centred on how urban environments can support equitability in terms of providing diverse groups with access to resources and opportunities to support wellbeing (Wheeler, 2013) This discussion has been firmly grounded in theories of social justice and rights to the city (Imrie, 2011) which have conceptualised those rights in two interrelated ways: the right to appropriate the city (e.g. right to access, occupy and use urban space) in support of a full social participation, and the right to participate in the shaping of the city (e.g. citizenship, involvement in decision-making) to enable political participation (Lefebvre, [1968] 1996, 1974; Purcell, 2002, 2003). This is despite literature exploring rights and social justice amongst older adults more broadly, including calls for an international response to addressing the rights of older adults (Tang and Lee, 2006)

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