ACTIVE AGEING IN EUROPE: NEW CHALLENGES AND POLICY RESPONSES

1. ACTIVE AGEING IN EUROPE: NEW CHALLENGES AND POLICY RESPONSES CHRIS PHILLIPSON KEELE UNIVERSITY

2. ACTIVE AGEING IN EUROPE Areas covered: • How did Active Ageing develop? • What is Active Ageing? • Where did Active Ageing come from? • Principles and policies for Active Ageing.

3. Milestones in the Development of Active Ageing Emerging debate through the 1990s and 2000s emphasising older people as active participants in society: • 1993 Year of Older People • 1999 UN Year of Older People • 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action • 2001 WHO Active ageing: from evidence to action • 2002 WHO Active Ageing: A Policy Framework • 2012 European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations.

4. What is Active Ageing? Active ageing defined as: ‘..the process of optimising opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Active ageing applies to both individuals and groups. It allows people to realise their potential for physical, social, and mental well-being throughout their lives and to participate in society according to their needs, desires and capacities, while providing them with adequate protection, security and care when they require assistance’. WHO, 2002 Active Ageing: A Policy Framework

5. WHERE DID ACTIVE AGEING COME FROM? Variety of influences in suggesting need for a new approach to understanding ageing: • Ideas developed in 1970s/1980s about ‘successful’ or ‘productive’ ageing. • Distinction between the ‘third’ and ‘fourth age’ in 1990s. • Challenges to the idea of ageing as a time of dependency and passivity in critical perspectives on ageing in 1990s/2000s. These ideas reinforced through concerns about: • The pace of demographic change • Possible tensions between generations

6. WHERE DID ACTIVE AGEING COME FROM? Ideas about ‘successful’ or ‘productive’ ageing emerged in the United States in 1970s/1980s: • Successful ageing (Rowe and Kahn, 1987) focused upon the need to develop new roles and relationships to replace those lost in the transition from work to retirement. • Productive ageing (Morrow-Howell, 2001) developed the theme that older people could develop activities (e.g. delaying retirement, volunteering) which could defray some of the costs associated with ageing.

7. WHERE DID ACTIVE AGEING COME FROM? Distinction emerges in 1990s between 3rd and 4th Age: ‘The life phase in which there is no longer employment and child-raising to commandeer time and before morbidity enters to limit activity and mortality brings everything to a close, has been called the Third Age. Those in this phase of life have passed through a first age of youth, and a second of maturity…and have reached a third age in which they can, within fairly wide limits, live their lives as they please, before being taken over by a fourth age of decline’. (Weiss and Bass, 2003)

8. WHERE DID ACTIVE AGEING COME FROM? . Critical gerontology develops in 1980s/1990s as a reaction to traditional approaches to ageing: Key argument: Old age can be seen as much as a social construction as a period of life determined by biology. Old age is shaped by social attitudes and expectations, political and economic structures, and cultural beliefs and associations. (e.g. Townsend, 1981; Baars et al., 2006).

9. WHERE DID ACTIVE AGEING COME FROM? Ideas about encouraging ‘activity’ and ‘participation’ were reinforced by two other dimensions: • DEMOGRAPHY • INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY

10. Table 1: % of Population 65+ (80+yrs) (selected years) * Projected values: 2020 -2060 Source: Eurostat 2012

11. Changes in Median & Average Age 1950-2050 EU 27: Aging in Europe Source: Eurostat: EU Comm 2005

12. Table 2: Life expectancy and healthy life years at aged 65, 2009 Source: Eurostat 2012

13. WHERE DID ACTIVE AGEING COME FROM? THE INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY CONTEXT Why the focus on generations & solidarity? • Concern that expanding population of older people will create pressures on younger generations. • Need to develop measures which draw links between different generations. • Need to reinforce existing contacts e.g. through the family and within the community.

14. Table 3: % of individuals who think there is alot of tension between young & old people Source: European Quality of Life Survey

15. DEVELOPING ACTIVE AGEING • PRINCIPLES OF ACTIVE AGEING • POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVES • POLICY INITIATIVES • NEW SOLIDARITES

16. PILLARS OF ACTIVE AGEING EXTENDING WORK PENSIONS PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY INITIATIVES PRINCIPLES OF ACTIVE AGEING NEW SOLIDARITIES 16

17. PRINCIPLES OF ACTIVE AGEING Key Principles: • ‘Activity’ should be meaningful to individual concerned – family and community-based and not just work. • ‘Activity’ should be developed across the whole life course – hence include all age groups. • ‘Activity’ should be an opportunity to explore rights and obligations which span generations. • ‘Activity’ should be empowering and participative. • ‘Activity’ should recognise national and cultural diversity. (Walker and Maltby, 2012)

18. POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES Nation-states/European Union • Linking of improvement in life expectancy with upward revision of pension ages. • Reform of public health and earlier detection of diseases alongside health promotion and self-health care. • Changes to pension system and reduction of proportions of people at risk of poverty (arguably the biggest risk to achieving active ageing).

19. Table 4: Share of population with specific difficulties, 2009 (Single Adults 65+) Source: Eurostat 2012

20. POLICY INITIATIVES • INTER-GENERATIONAL EDUCATION • INTER-GENERATIONAL CITIES • INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIROMENTAL ACTIVITIES

21. INTER-GENERATIONAL EDUCATION 21 • WHO (2001) Active Ageing argues that education can provide a contribution to improving the quality of later life. Key role for universities/ adult education: • Can play a leading role in creating a new type of ageing for the 21st century, built around extended economic, family and citizenship roles • Supporting people in the two decades beyond their main work careers • Unlocking mental capital and supporting well-being in later life • Supporting health and social care professionals in their work with older people

22. Age Profile of UK Postgraduate Students 2009-2010

23. Universities/ adult education and older learners 23 Educational and personal development programmes Employment-related programmes Health and social care programmes aimed at professionals working with older people Social Inclusion programmes

24. Universities and older learners 24 Three Key Challenges

25. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL CITIES Age-friendly cities (AFCs) are a significant part of debate on active ageing. WHO (2007) argue that older people require supportive and enabling environments to compensate for physical and social changes associated with ageing. • ‘Making cities more age-friendly is a necessary and logical response to promote the wellbeing and contributions of older urban residents and keep cities thriving’ (WHO, 2007)

26. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL CITIES BENEFITS OF CITIES Infrastructure of public facilities – ‘public affluence’ versus ‘privatized consumerism’ (Davis, 2002) Specialist resources for minority groups – may be of particular importance in old age (Buffel et al., 2012). Broader range of social networks – importance of strangers & neighbours as well as friends and family (Gardner, 2011) Innovation in cities e.g. smart city movement (Ratti and Townsend, 2011); social networking technology. 26

27. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL CITIES New Vision for inter-generational cities: SHARED SPACES? SHARED HOUSING? SHARED FACILITIES?

28. INTERGENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVITIES ‘Environment as a natural connector of generations’ ‘Older adults are concerned about the world they are leaving behind for … younger generations. The young are concerned about the state of the world they will inherit. Both populations are often particularly susceptible to the same environmental health hazards… They are each at an age when they are more likely to live life in their neighbourhoods and have more flexibility in their schedules than working, commuting middle generations’. (Steinig and Butts, 2010)

29. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIES • COMMUNITY GARDENING INITIATIVES • UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND OLDER PEOPLE

30. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIES Research project on community gardening (Scharf et al. 2011) in low income area of Manchester, UK. • To what extent does participation in gardening projects facilitate older people’s social engagement? • What do older people regard as the benefits and challenges of participation in a gardening initiative?

31. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIES • Potential benefits arising from gardening activities: • Good physical and mental health (van den Berg et al., 2010) • Maintenance of healthy lifestyles (Hope and Ellis, 2009) • Positive well-being outcomes, including reduced isolation (Wakefield et al., 2007) • Increased life satisfaction and greater independence (Bhatti, 2006; Wakefield et al., 2007) • Increased opportunities and ability to learn new skills (Gillaspie, 1988) • Urban farming initiatives

32. Before After

33. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIES • Assuming ownership, taking control: • “It’s something that we feel is in our control and not management’s. Telling us, saying ‘You mustn’t do this, you mustn’t do that’. We put the plants in that we want to put in. It’s as simple as that. And it’s a form of feeling ‘Well, at least we’ve got control of something’.” (Valerie, Group A) • “I’m not the only person who is frustrated to death in here [sheltered housing]. It’s been a Godsend to me the garden club. And I think everybody else has felt the same. You can go out there and do things, take responsibility for something.” (Sue, Group B)

34. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIES • Increasing social engagement: • “When we started I was very lonely, I didn’t have a hobby. I didn’t have company apart from the family […] It has given me something to do. I didn’t feel so lonely. You feel isolated. So if there is nothing going on in the lounge you can do gardening.” (Judith, Group A) • ‘It gives me so much pleasure for anybody that’s passing and you know they come here from the school clubs and they always stop and have a look. And it lifts me then. It makes me want to do it… And that’s what gardener’s want…to give everyone pleasure’. (Alf, Group B).

35. DEVELOPING INTER-GENERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITIESUniversity students and older people • The "Dig it!" programme engages the community and students in themes around growing edible plants, composting and supporting biodiversity. • Students and older ‘Grey Matters’ members are engaged and planning activities through events and volunteering using an environmental centre at Keele Unversity. Allotments [volkstuintje (door de overheid verhuurd)] are being developed on the campus to demonstrate and exchange skills in gardening and conservation. • The allotments in particular offer an environment to demonstrate the principles and practice of intergenerational knowledge exchange and provide experiential learning to the community • http://www.keele.ac.uk/keelehub/

36. DEVELOPING NEW SOLIDARITIES • MUTUAL SOLIDARITIES – re-discovering the skills of co-operation (Sennett, 2012) • GENERATIONAL AND FRIENDSHIPSOLIDARITIES – valuing grand-parenting and peer support. • CARING SOLIDARITIES – re-defining care for the most vulnerable (e.g. those with dementia). • GLOBAL SOLIDARITIES – sharing skills and knowledge with low income countries with rapidly ageing populations.

37. REFERENCES Age Platform Europe (2011) How to promote active ageing in Europe. Buffel, T. Phillipson, C. and Scharf, T. (2012, forthcoming) Ageing in Urban Environments: developing age-friendly cities, Critical Social Policy Vol. 36 Christensen, K et al. (2009) Ageing populations: the challenges ahead. The Lancet Vol.374 Eurostat (2012) Active ageing and solidarity between generations. A Statistical portrait of the EU 2012. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Second European Quality of Life Survey Middling, S. et al. Gardening and the social engagement of older people. Working with Older People Vol 15 (3) Phillipson, C. (2010) Active ageing and universities: engaging older learners. International Journal of Education and Ageing. Vol 1 (1) Sennett, R (2012) Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Co-Operation London: Allen Lane Steinig, S and Butts, D (2010) Generations Going Green: Intergenerational Programs Connecting Young and Old to Improve Our Environment Walker, A. and Maltby, T. (2012) Active Ageing: A strategic policy solution to demographic ageing in Europe. Int. Jrnl of Soc Welfare WHO (2002) Active Ageing: A policy framework. Geneva: WHO WHO (2007) Global Age Friendly Cities: A Guide. Geneva: WHO