Environmental Gerontology: Making Meaningful Places in Old Age

The environments in which people live out their later lives have a strong impact on their identity and provide opportunities for nourishing social interactions. This volume translates the insights derived from contemporary research on residential environments and public spaces that enhance well-being into practical recommendations for the design of such beneficial community environments.

The text is grounded in the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of current research on place attachment, environmental meaning, and community living in later life. Emphasis is placed on how to design residential spaces that facilitate the development of a sense of place or home, and investigation is made into the kinds of lifestyles such spaces foster and support. A major theme pervading the text is the juxtaposition of private and public space. The book also addresses such themes as the transformation of spaces into places of personal identification and attachment, the need for shared intergenerational spaces, and consideration of diverse populations when designing public spaces. The book also considers how emerging public policy agendas affect the development and management of environments for the elderly. “Environmental Gerontology” includes the contributions of scholars in anthropology, architecture, economics, education, geography, gerontology, planning, psychology, sociology, and numerous health sciences, who hail from North America, Europe, and Asia. With its strong interdisciplinary focus, this text offers innovative and judicious recommendations for the creation of community environments that are truly beneficial for older adults. Key Features:

Provides an up-to-date synthesis of the latest research on the meaning of place to older people and its relationship to well-being Offers fresh insight and critical perspectives on community planning and environmental design Considers private residences, retirement communities, long-term care facilities, and public and private community spaces Includes guiding principles for environmental design and practice relevant to the documented needs of older people Synthesizes contributions from international scholars in many disciplines “

Graham D. Rowles, PhD, is Professor of Gerontology and was founding director of the Graduate Center for Gerontology at the University of Kentucky, with joint appointments in Nursing, Behavioral Science, Geography and Health Behavior. His publications include Prisoners of Space and five co-edited volumes, Aging and Milieu: Environmental Perspectives on Growing Old, Qualitative Gerontology, Long-Term Care for the Rural Elderly, Qualitative Gerontology: A Contemporary Perspective, and Home and Identity in Late Life, along with more than 60 book chapters and articles. He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Gerontology and the Journal of Housing for the Elderly. Dr. Rowles is President of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.

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Miriam Bernard, PhD, is Professor of Social Gerontology and founding Director of the Research Institute for Life Course Studies at Keele University and President of the British Society of Gerontology. She is a leading figure in social gerontology nationally and internationally, and an experienced and successful supervisor of PhD students. Dr. Bernard has long-standing research interests in women’s lives as they age and in intergenerational relationships. Her recent research has focused primarily on the development of new and healthy lifestyles in later life. Dr. Bernard is the author/editor of 17 books and monographs, over 70 book chapters and journal articles, and many research reports. She is currently on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships: Programs, Policy and Research and Policy Press’s new series Aging and the Life Course.