IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i21p8281-d442232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digitalising the Age-Friendly City: Insights from Participatory Action Research

Author

Listed:
  • Arlind Reuter

    (Open Lab, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TG, UK)

  • Jennifer Liddle

    (Open Lab, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TG, UK
    Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK)

  • Thomas Scharf

    (Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK)

Abstract

The World Health Organization’s age-friendly city initiative emerged as a response to the intersecting global trends of population ageing and urbanisation. However, a third global trend—digitalisation—has largely been overlooked in research and policy making relating to age-friendly cities and communities. Within the context of a general shift towards online civic participatory activities, this article explores older adults’ digital citizenship in an age-friendly city in the North of England. Drawing on interviews, observations and field notes from design workshops as part of an ongoing participatory action research project, we consider two key questions. First, how does an age-friendly city stakeholder organisation of older adults make use of digital technologies in order to provide digital information and communications? Second, what is the potential of digital audio to increase civic participation in later life and local engagement with age-friendly issues? Our analysis focuses on two domains of the World Health Organization’s age-friendly city framework: Communication and information and civic participation. First, we report on the stakeholder organisation’s efforts to re-design their digital newsletter in order to provide information and communications to older residents about local work on ageing projects. We then outline the organisation’s efforts, in a public setting, to engage with digital audio as a way to increase the participation of older residents with age-friendly topics. We conclude by suggesting the need to re-frame the role of digital technologies within the age-friendly city, broadening the scope from accessibility towards enhancing digital citizenship opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Arlind Reuter & Jennifer Liddle & Thomas Scharf, 2020. "Digitalising the Age-Friendly City: Insights from Participatory Action Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:8281-:d:442232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8281/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8281/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer Liddle & Nicole Pitcher & Kyle Montague & Barbara Hanratty & Holly Standing & Thomas Scharf, 2020. "Connecting at Local Level: Exploring Opportunities for Future Design of Technology to Support Social Connections in Age-friendly Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-25, July.
    2. Kieran Walsh & Thomas Scharf & Norah Keating, 2017. "Social exclusion of older persons: a scoping review and conceptual framework," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 81-98, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joost van Hoof & Hannah R. Marston, 2021. "Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Jianbo Han & Edwin H. W. Chan & Esther H. K. Yung & Queena K. Qian & Patrick T. I. Lam, 2022. "A Policy Framework for Producing Age-Friendly Communities from the Perspective of Production of Space," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Hannah R. Marston & Kelly Niles-Yokum & Paula Alexandra Silva, 2021. "A Commentary on Blue Zones ® : A Critical Review of Age-Friendly Environments in the 21st Century and Beyond," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-33, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Melanie Davern & Rachel Winterton & Kathleen Brasher & Geoff Woolcock, 2020. "How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Muhammad Ahmad Al-Rashid & Muhammad Nadeem & Tiziana Campisi & Iftikhar Ahmad, 2023. "Exploring the Role of Socio-Demographic Characteristics on Gendered Social Exclusion: Empirical Evidence from Older Adults in Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 847-862, October.
    3. Tomasz Panek & Jan Zwierzchowski, 2022. "Examining the Degree of Social Exclusion Risk of the Population Aged 50 + in the EU Countries Under the Capability Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 973-1002, October.
    4. Thomas Hansen & Marcela Petrová Kafková & Ruth Katz & Ariela Lowenstein & Sigal Naim & George Pavlidis & Feliciano Villar & Kieran Walsh & Marja Aartsen, 2021. "Exclusion from Social Relations in Later Life: Micro- and Macro-Level Patterns and Correlations in a European Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Prattley, Jennifer & Buffel, Tine & Marshall, Alan & Nazroo, James, 2020. "Area effects on the level and development of social exclusion in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    6. Ling Xu & Jia Li & Weiyu Mao & Iris Chi, 2023. "Exploration of Social Exclusion among Older Chinese Immigrants in the USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Belinda Paulovich & Sonja Pedell & Erica Tandori & Jeanie Beh, 2022. "Weaving Social Connectivity into the Community Fabric: Exploring Older Adult’s Relationships to Technology and Place," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    8. Lena Dahlberg & Kevin J. McKee & Carin Lennartsson & Johan Rehnberg, 2022. "A social exclusion perspective on loneliness in older adults in the Nordic countries," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 175-188, June.
    9. Aviad Tur-Sinai & Netta Bentur & Paolo Fabbietti & Giovanni Lamura, 2021. "Impact of the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Formal and Informal Care of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Cross-National Clustering of Empirical Evidence from 23 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-13, June.
    10. Kozar Łukasz, 2021. "Non-Monetary Indicators of Social Exclusion – A Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of the Eu-10 Countries," Econometrics. Advances in Applied Data Analysis, Sciendo, vol. 25(4), pages 40-53, December.
    11. Charlene H. Chu & Simon Donato-Woodger & Shehroz S. Khan & Rune Nyrup & Kathleen Leslie & Alexandra Lyn & Tianyu Shi & Andria Bianchi & Samira Abbasgholizadeh Rahimi & Amanda Grenier, 2023. "Age-related bias and artificial intelligence: a scoping review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Mirian Fernández Salido & Carolina Moreno-Castro & Francesco Belletti & Stecy Yghemonos & Jorge Garcès Ferrer & Georgia Casanova, 2022. "Innovating European Long-Term Care Policies through the Socio-Economic Support of Families: A Lesson from Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-12, March.
    13. Ferraro, Aniello & Cerciello, Massimiliano & Agovino, Massimiliano & Garofalo, Antonio, 2021. "Do public policies reduce social exclusion? The role of national and supranational economic tools," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 165-181.
    14. Joost van Hoof & Hannah R. Marston, 2021. "Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    15. Wenran Xia & Jeroen D. H. van Wijngaarden & Robbert Huijsman & Martina Buljac-Samardžić, 2022. "Effect of Receiving Financial Support from Adult Children on Depression among Older Persons and the Mediating Role of Social Participation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-16, October.
    16. Kafková Marcela Petrová & Vidovićová Lucie & Wija Petr, 2018. "Older Adults and Civic Engagement in Rural Areas of the Czech Republic," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 247-262, June.
    17. Janice Du Mont & S Daisy Kosa & Hannah Kia & Charmaine Spencer & Mark Yaffe & Sheila Macdonald, 2020. "Development and evaluation of a social inclusion framework for a comprehensive hospital-based elder abuse intervention," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, June.
    18. María Sánchez-Román & Gadea Autric-Tamayo & Gloria Fernandez-Mayoralas & Fermina Rojo-Perez & María Silveria Agulló-Tomás & Diego Sánchez-González & Vicente Rodriguez-Rodriguez, 2022. "Social Image of Old Age, Gendered Ageism and Inclusive Places: Older People in the Media," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-26, December.
    19. Aisling Flynn & Marguerite Barry & Wei Qi Koh & Gearóid Reilly & Attracta Brennan & Sam Redfern & Dympna Casey, 2022. "Introducing and Familiarising Older Adults Living with Dementia and Their Caregivers to Virtual Reality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Hannah R. Marston & Kelly Niles-Yokum & Paula Alexandra Silva, 2021. "A Commentary on Blue Zones ® : A Critical Review of Age-Friendly Environments in the 21st Century and Beyond," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-33, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:8281-:d:442232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.