Open call for the year 2024: Dossier Aging, territory and environment
Dossier on Aging, Territory, and Environment
Population aging is coming to Latin America, but at a very different pace than what has been seen before. If today’s hyper-aged countries – with more than 24% elderly people – went through the population transition over the course of a century, in Latin America it will take a few decades. An emblematic example is Brazil, which at the beginning of the 20th century had only 25% of its population aged 50 or over, but is expected to have 80% of people aged 60 or over within a decade, making it the sixth oldest country in the world. Old demographic equilibria are being broken, and, today, it is necessary to review various aspects of our culture, starting, for example with the way we define “sustainability”:
“[…] a transverse look at the needs and interests of the elderly would allow us to identify areas of opportunity in other SDGs that do not include them in particular, but extend to all of them” (Huenchuan; Rivera, 2019, p.9).
Under a broader understanding of “social sustainability”, some cities have already experimented with various strategies. A survey of academic publications on cities and aging categorized them into three approaches (Yuen; Soh, 2017). On the one hand, there is a software that refers to government policies and programs to support aging. On the other hand, there is work with heartware, which seeks to make people’s hearts aware of the new culture of longevity. The third strategy – and the focus of our interest here – is city hardware, which includes urban infrastructure, services, and housing as a support system for aging. We, therefore, present the latter strategy as the theme for this issue of Oculum Ensaios.
If we look at the urban scale, we can identify a need to rethink the city from a new perspective. This includes considering neighborhoods as zones of territorial appropriation, where stores and services can be found within walking distance. In neighborhoods where services and adequate infrastructure are in short supply, it is essential to review connectivity with the city, verifying whether the transport network is capable of taking the elderly population to their usual destinations. Faced with the tendency for the elderly population to become reclusive, squares, parks, and certain public facilities – such as adult day care services – offer opportunities for social interactions. Studies in Gerontological Geography (Skinner, Andrews, and Cutchin, 2018) have pointed out these and many other issues but they are works developed mainly outside the Latin American context and need to be reviewed (Sánchez-González; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, 2016).
Similarly, studies in Environmental Geography (Rowles and Bernard, 2013) have explored intergenerational spaces, for example. University campuses are likely the places in the city with the greatest potential but are under-explored. However, to develop real interactions between generations, universities need focused work that seeks to include the gerontological perspective in areas ranging from the academic and cultural programs to the integration of strategies in the Institutional Development plans themselves, as proposed by the Age-friendly University network.
At the core of research into aging is also a new culture of the home, which, today, is summarized in the paradigms of aging-in-place and aging-together. The former considers the benefits of continuing to live in the same home, which is often a place full of meaning and memories. However, the feasibility of elderly people staying at home needs to be revised considering Latin American housing typologies seeing as the region has a housing supply that is not very resilient to the ageing of its residents.
Concerning aging-together, we could think about reformulating traditional collective housing models. Asylums and retirement homes – the dystopia of aging – could be rethought using other typologies, such as “senior cohousing”. Many significant experiences with senior cohousing outside Latin American countries could inspire possibilities in the region. With so many fields to be explored and made available to the public, we invite you to contribute to the discussion in the Oculum Ensaios Dossier, to be published in the first semester of 2024. Given your experience in research and work related to this theme, we invite you to submit a paper for the Dossier of Oculum Ensaios. We are particularly interested in articles that make contributions to the field of Architecture and Urbanism, but also from related areas, which present cases of interest and/or help to elucidate issues such as:
- What are the challenges and opportunities for Latin American cities to adapt to increase the autonomy and socialization of the elderly population?
- Are there any notable examples of habitats for the elderly population that indicate ways of developing spatial types and housing policies?
- How can the existing housing supply be adapted to healthy and safe aging?
- What lessons can countries that have aged earlier than Latin America teach us to raise awareness and inspire architects, urban planners, public administrators, and citizens?
Articles can be submitted until March 1st, 2024, following the journal’s rules, available at: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/oculum/about/submissions. Texts will be accepted in Portuguese, English, or Spanish. However, articles approved in Portuguese must be published in English or Spanish, according to the choice of the authors, who will be responsible for preparing the translated version according to the guidelines provided later.
Sincerely,
Dr. Alejandro Pérez-Duarte Fernández
Dra. Patrícia Rodrigues Samora
(guest editors)
Dra. Renata Baesso Pereira
(editor-in-chief)
References
Sánchez-González, D. & Rodriguez-Rodriguez, V. (eds.)(2016). Environmental Gerontology in Europe and Latin America. NY: Springer.
Skinner, Mark W.; Andrews, Gavin J. & Cutchin, Malcolm (2018). Geographical Gerontology: Perspectives, Concepts, Approaches. Nueva York: Routledge, 331 p.
Rowles, G. D. & Bernard, M. (Eds.). (2013). Environmental gerontology: Making meaningful places in old age. Springer Publishing Company.
Huenchuan, Sandra & Rivera, Emiliana (2019). Experiencias y prioridades para incluir a las personas mayores en la implantación y seguimiento de la Agenda 2020 para el Desarrollo Sostenible. Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe-CEPAL.
