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Senior citizens are shaping the way neighbourhoods evolve and grow, all in the name of maintaining deeper connections to their communities as they age, according to one Western researcher's work inside a pair of London neighbourhoods.
"We were looking at how the built-in social environment in London either supports or holds barriers to seniors being socially engaged and participating in activities," said School of Occupational Therapy professor Carri Hand, whose work looked at Westmount and Old South neighbourhoods in London. "We focused on social connections and activities, seeing how they interacted."
Through interviews with seniors, and the use of GPS tracking to follow their movements, Hand found older adults are creating our communities through casual social interactions, helping others and taking community action. From those three areas, Hand has revealed some common truths about these particular neighbourhoods.
Seniors expressed deep connections to physical places in neighbourhoods – restaurants, cafes, parks, libraries. Everyday neighbourhood activities, such as shopping or walking, appeared key to maintaining a sense of connection to the neighbourhood and in developing informal social ties.
It turns out old people are not worthless.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Saturday September 16 2017, @07:57AM
Yup Frojack... that is one thing I really like about the old city I live in now. I am not the only thing old around here. Damn near everything is old. Mostly still the same way things were when I was a kid.
Including socializing at the local eatery.
Or chatting as we walk our dogs past each other's house.
You know, the one thing I learned to despise in my previous neighborhood was the automatic garage door opener. Those things allowed people to hole up in their house, slipping in and out, and never be seen. I lived in one of those neighborhoods for five years once, and never met my neighbor. All sorts of hell could break loose and no-one knew what was going on.
Where I am now, even an unrecognized car on the street raises questions. If someone comes through we don't recognize, we will watch them until they leave. And we mostly don't mind sharing ( as in, my neighbor across the street's son came visiting in his camper, however I have the street parking slot long enough for him to fit his house trailer in... so I run electrical extension cord out to his trailer so he can have light, TV, and internet while he's visiting. He won't use enough electricity to make a dent anyway, and running the cord across the street is not wise.)
By now, we all know each other's kids and dogs as well. One gets lost and we see to it that it finds its way back home. Try driving a car through here too fast and you will rile the whole neighborhood.
Sometimes we have "block parties", cordon our street off for the day, and everyone kick back and have a big social. Those of us with wheeled barbeques put them in the front and light 'em off.. others bring things to put on it. We'll get a keg or two and spend a day just kicking back.
The neighbor down the street has an older Chevy with a really nice sound system in it, and he puts on 50's and 60's music collections, and parks it out front. Gee, it doesn't get any better than this. The whole thing brings all of us back to our childhood when the very same things were first happening.
I love my neighbors here... and hate to see any of 'em leave, yet I am reaching the age where I see way too many of my neighbors leaving for their maker.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]