an artgicle by Sara Alidoust (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia) and Caryl Bosman and Gordon Holden (Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia) published in Ageing & Society Volume 39 Issue 7 (July 2019)
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on creating age-friendly cities to accommodate the changing needs of older people and to promote their overall health and wellbeing.
This paper focuses on some of the urban planning implications related to maintaining the social health, as a main component of overall health and wellbeing, of older people. Specifically, we look at the role and accessibility of third places (popular public places where many people go to socialise) in relation to older people living in different neighbourhood built-form patterns, and how these factors impact on the formation of absent, weak and strong social ties.
The data draw upon interviews with 54 older people living in different neighbourhood built-form patterns on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Our findings demonstrate the significant role third places have in affording older people opportunities to engage in the social lives of their local communities, thus contributing to their social health and overall wellbeing.
This research supports previous studies relating to the accessibility of amenities by re-emphasising the importance of planning for the provision of third places that are conveniently located and easily accessible by older people.
The paper concludes by arguing for the planning of transport and third-place interventions in Australia's sprawling suburban landscapes to allow older people more opportunities to be socially connected.
Hazel’s comment:
I can relate to this. I can no longer get a bus that takes me to the public library so I rarely, if ever, visit it.
Showing posts with label social_life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social_life. Show all posts
Friday, 28 June 2019
Wednesday, 23 May 2018
Everyone Has Struggles, So Don’t Stigmatize Yourself
a post by Mosab Alkhteb for the Tiny Buddha blog
From a psychological point of view, my childhood sucked.
I didn't have many friends, I rarely left the house, I was terribly shy, and I used to get bullied a lot, both physically and mentally.
My teenage years weren't any different. The psychological issues I had as a child amplified further and created more profound problems.
When I started college, I didn't magically become more confident or develop high self-esteem. I was almost the same person.
Now, I proudly (and humbly) can say that I've gotten over most of my childhood and teenage problems, including the ones related to my social life.
But I'm not here to tell you how I did that. That would probably take a book. And trust me, it's not as glorious as I wish it were.
Instead, I want to tell you about one factor that made all the difference during my journey of change and development.
One factor that made my journey tolerable at times. Without it, I would have given up.
Continue reading
Believe me it will be worth all the time you spend working through the ideas.
From a psychological point of view, my childhood sucked.
I didn't have many friends, I rarely left the house, I was terribly shy, and I used to get bullied a lot, both physically and mentally.
My teenage years weren't any different. The psychological issues I had as a child amplified further and created more profound problems.
When I started college, I didn't magically become more confident or develop high self-esteem. I was almost the same person.
Now, I proudly (and humbly) can say that I've gotten over most of my childhood and teenage problems, including the ones related to my social life.
But I'm not here to tell you how I did that. That would probably take a book. And trust me, it's not as glorious as I wish it were.
Instead, I want to tell you about one factor that made all the difference during my journey of change and development.
One factor that made my journey tolerable at times. Without it, I would have given up.
Continue reading
Believe me it will be worth all the time you spend working through the ideas.
Sunday, 15 October 2017
The more-than-human city
an article by Adrian Franklin (University of Tasmania, Australia) published in The Sociological Review Volume 65 Issue 2 (May 2017)
Abstract
That the modern city should be a purified space of human habitation, a humanist citadel, constructed for, and by humanity alone, was an implicit assumption in urban studies until recently. We might say that urban studies has always been part of this humanist fantasy since it is hard to find a time when non-human elements and actants were not important to the life chances of cities everywhere.
Not surprisingly, in 1970 Ray Pahl paid little attention to the non-human world but since then the politics of the ecologically minded and technical city has been populated by more and more instances of our dealings with what Latour calls the ‘extended democracy’ of other species and things.
This paper extends this understanding by showing how many natural forces, species, technologies and materialities became entangled in the social, cultural and political life of contemporary cities.
Using illustrations from Asian, European, American and Australasian cities, it shows how environmental and technical forces (such as fire, engineering, theory and flood) become incorporated into the life, subjectivities and structures of modern cities; how animals have become important companions to urbanites whose social bonds have fragmented; how animals and objects have been used to signify contested spaces; how they, together with other material objects and forces, enter into dialectical ‘more-than-human’ politics, how they form and embody the values and interests of particular city groups and how they become the focus and voice of otherwise difficult political, moral and ethical values.
It shows, in other words, how they have disturbed the politics of the city creating new, more-than-human political interests and movements around their ‘residency’, lines of flight and alliances with humans.
Abstract
That the modern city should be a purified space of human habitation, a humanist citadel, constructed for, and by humanity alone, was an implicit assumption in urban studies until recently. We might say that urban studies has always been part of this humanist fantasy since it is hard to find a time when non-human elements and actants were not important to the life chances of cities everywhere.
Not surprisingly, in 1970 Ray Pahl paid little attention to the non-human world but since then the politics of the ecologically minded and technical city has been populated by more and more instances of our dealings with what Latour calls the ‘extended democracy’ of other species and things.
This paper extends this understanding by showing how many natural forces, species, technologies and materialities became entangled in the social, cultural and political life of contemporary cities.
Using illustrations from Asian, European, American and Australasian cities, it shows how environmental and technical forces (such as fire, engineering, theory and flood) become incorporated into the life, subjectivities and structures of modern cities; how animals have become important companions to urbanites whose social bonds have fragmented; how animals and objects have been used to signify contested spaces; how they, together with other material objects and forces, enter into dialectical ‘more-than-human’ politics, how they form and embody the values and interests of particular city groups and how they become the focus and voice of otherwise difficult political, moral and ethical values.
It shows, in other words, how they have disturbed the politics of the city creating new, more-than-human political interests and movements around their ‘residency’, lines of flight and alliances with humans.
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