The placing of older people in South London, using a case study charitable organisation and its almshousing to review age-friendly cities guidance

Clark, Sam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4597-5162 and Davis, Juliet ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2056-5792 2024. The placing of older people in South London, using a case study charitable organisation and its almshousing to review age-friendly cities guidance. Presented at: 10th Nordic Geographers Meeting: Transitioning Geographies, Copenhagen, 24-27 June 2024. NGM Book of Abstracts. p. 303.

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Abstract

Understandings of 'age-friendliness' in the WHO Age-friendly Cities Framework centre on a range of spatial and social parameters including services and opportunities for participation. But the effectiveness of age-friendly design is deeply intertwined with complex dynamics shaping access to housing. We show this through a London-based case study of a model of low-income housing that has roots in the Middle Ages. This is an almshouse providing housing for local people. It was commissioned by United St Saviours Charity which began providing housing in c1580 and today manages three almshouse projects each from a different era and responding to wider attitudes to the placing of older people. Appleby Blue almshouse is set within South London where development pressures and the 1990s 'urban renaissance' has shaped population flows, tending to displace low-income groups - with isolating effects for older people. With traditional working-class communities fractured by gentrification and a shrinking welfare state, it represents a new opportunity for local people but a liferaft for the few nonetheless. lts design creates proximities, porosities, accessibilities, and social spaces that address multiscalar dimensions of agefriendly places. And yet it also serves eloquently to highlight the need to rescale solutions beyond the singular exemplar.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Other)
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture
Additional Information:	Abstract
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 17:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173912

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