What makes a good place for healthy ageing? Developing a tool to assess ageing in place.

Supporting people to ‘age in place’ has become a key focus for policymakers, researchers, and third sector organisations seeking to support the health and wellbeing of ageing populations. Ageing in Place (AiP) is defined as an older adults’ ability to continue to live independently and connected to the community for as long as possible. Increasingly AiP is also recognised as a cost-effective strategy to alleviate pressure on healthcare systems and institutional care facilities. However, ageing well ‘in-place’ requires resources like a suitable home, access to outdoor environments, social engagement opportunities and services that enable older people to flourish. Understanding and identifying the suitable environmental, social, and economic contexts that enable people to live well in older age has been at the centre of ACRC Work Package 4 ‘Understanding the Person in Context’. 

Evidence and policy suggest that co-produced ‘age friendly’ placemaking is necessary to create environments that enhance health, accommodate the opportunities and challenges that come with ageing, and contribute to the inclusion of older voices in local decision-making. In Scotland, the Place Standard Tool (PST) is a ‘way of assessing’ local area characteristics across social, physical and service-based domains in consultation with residents and other stakeholders. Its use is required in Scottish local area planning processes and has also gained international recognition. However, while there are PST iterations on Climate, Air-Quality & Young People, none exist or are proposed with an age-friendly perspective.    

To support the development of age-friendly places, we felt there was a need for a co-production tool or resource that would be welcomed by designers, communities, and other stakeholders. Other age-friendly tools and frameworks do exist. However, they pay insufficient attention to the effects of digital technologies, and work on the effects of climate change on healthy ageing requires re-appraisal and inclusion. We also felt that a suitable tool which combined metrics with associated qualitative evidence is presently not available.

Funded by an internal seed-fund grant from the University of Edinburgh we assembled an academic team, consisting of researchers from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA-OpenSpace) & the Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC), partnering with Heriot-Watt & Newcastle Universities to assess the need and potential for an [Ageing in] Place Standard tool. 

We carried out an initial knowledge gathering exercise, followed by workshops with older participants in both urban and rural settings, assessing the use and age-appropriateness of the Scottish Government’s existing Place Standard Tool: an established and effective framework for structuring conversations around the physical and social aspects of places. We also conducted interviews with key stakeholder from different place-making sectors.

Our findings demonstrate that any proposed [Ageing in} Place Tool needs to address – 

• Accessibility of health services (e.g primary care, pharmacy, opticians etc).
• Affordability & agency around home adaptations.
• Assessing the strength and security of informal socio-spatial support networks.
• Concern over online safety & digital service provision, citizenship & inclusion.
• Home protections and accessing key services in extreme weather.
• A perceived lack of interventions to prepare older adults for impacts of climate change.

Further funding will allow us to deliver an [Ageing in] Place Standard tool through co-production and consultation with communities, project partners and key stakeholders, which we hope to get up and running in late 2025-early 2026.