title: Place-making with older persons: Establishing sense-of-place through participatory community mapping workshops.
abstract: Principles of aging-in-place emphasize the importance of creating sustainable environments that enable older people to maintain a sense of belonging, autonomy, independence, safety and security. Simply altering the built environment is insufficient for creating more inclusive environments for older persons, as creating 'meaningful' places for aging involves consideration of psychosocial and cultural issues that go beyond issues of physical space. This paper illustrates how applications of community-based participatory research methods, in particular, participatory community mapping workshops (PCMWs), can be used to access experiences of place, identify facilitators and barriers to accessing the built environment and co-create place-based solutions among older people and service providers in a new affordable housing development in Western Canada. Founded on tenets of empowerment and relationship building, four PCMWs were undertaken with 54 participants (N = 38 older people; N = 16 local service providers). PCMWs comprised (i) experiential group walks around the community to access understandings of place and community and (ii) mapping exercises, whereby participants articulated their place-based needs within the context of the new affordable housing development and surrounding neighbourhood. Dialogues were digitally recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Visual data, including photographs taken during experiential group walks were categorized and integrated into the narrative to illustrate place meanings. PCMWs enabled senior housing and social care professionals and decision-makers to co-construct knowledge with older tenants that facilitated place action and change. Key themes identified by participants included: identifying services and needs for health and wellbeing, having opportunities for social participation and overcoming cross-cultural challenges. PCMWs were found to be a nuanced method of identifying needs and resources and generating knowledge.
authors: Gerontology Research Centre, Simon Fraser University, Suite 2800 - 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 5K3, Canada; Centre of Excellence in Sustainability Building Design, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University, William Arrol Building, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK. Electronic address: mlfang@sfu.ca.
authors: Mei Lan
authors: ML
authors: Fang
authors: Centre of Excellence in Sustainability Building Design, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University, William Arrol Building, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK. Electronic address: r.d.woolrych@hw.ac.uk.
authors: Ryan
authors: R
authors: Woolrych
authors: Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton, NN2 7AL, UK. Electronic address: judith.sixsmith@northampton.ac.uk.
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Sixsmith
authors: Gerontology Research Centre, Simon Fraser University, Suite 2800 - 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 5K3, Canada. Electronic address: scanham@sfu.ca.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Canham
authors: Gerontology Research Centre, Simon Fraser University, Suite 2800 - 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 5K3, Canada. Electronic address: lbatters@sfu.ca.
authors: Lupin
authors: L
authors: Battersby
authors: Gerontology Research Centre, Simon Fraser University, Suite 2800 - 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 5K3, Canada. Electronic address: sixsmith@sfu.ca.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Sixsmith
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003256:Community Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods*; D004777:Environment; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000523:psychology*; D007899:Leisure Activities / Q000523:psychology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics
keywords: Aging-in-place; Co-production; Community-based participatory research; Older adults; Participatory mapping; Policy and practice; Qualitative research