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Creating Spaces for an Ageing Society considers the existing social science literature on shared neighbourhood spaces through the perspective of an ageing population. It asks the question; how can we use social infrastructure to build local neighbourhoods that are supportive of the social relationships we need in later life?
Understanding that social infrastructures are the shared spaces in our communities that provide opportunity for social interaction and support the development of social relationships, Yarker delves into how shared social spaces and cohesive communities are especially important for creating a positive environment in which to age. With emphasise on how older people rely more on neighbourhood-based networks, this book highlights the crucial importance of diverse spaces in which to develop and maintain social connections as we grow older.
Drawing on existing research from urban studies, sociology, human geography and social gerontology, this book makes the case for a better appreciation of the often fleeting and minimal interactions that we have every day in our own neighbourhood. Yarker demonstrates how it is these interactions, and these everyday spaces, that can increase a sense of social connectedness for older people as well as enhance their connection to place.
"I recommend Sophie Yarker's Creating Spaces for an Ageing Society: The Role of Critical Social Infrastructure.
It highlights the critical importance of social infrastructure - coffee shops, libraries, post offices, schools, local cinemas, luncheon clubs, parks, community and voluntary organisations, places of worship, senior centres - in promoting the development and maintenance of social connections as we grow older"
Sophie Yarker is based in the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing at The University of Manchester. She has an academic background in Sociology and Human Geography with a PhD in the latter from Newcastle University. From 2021 she has been working on the 'Population Ageing and Urbanisation' project funded by the Leverhulme Trust which is an interdisciplinary and cross-national comparative research project into ageing in place in cities. Sophie is also Deputy Director of the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group.
Chapter 1. Thinking infrastructurally about an ageing society
Chapter 2. Understanding social infrastructure and social connections
Chapter 3. Outside Venues and Public Spaces
Chapter 4. Organised Activity, Public Services and Institutions
Chapter 5. Commercial Venues
Chapter 6. Everyday spaces of Intergenerational Encounter
Chapter 7. Pressures on social infrastructure: Urban Development, Austerity and the Coronavirus Pandemic
Chapter 8. An infrastructural approach to age-friendly recovery