Ageing in a Long-term Regeneration Neighbourhood: A Disruptive Experience or Successful Ageing in Place?

An important demographic development is the ageing of the world's population. On the level of cities and neighbourhoods, policymakers increasingly grapple with the question how to accommodate ageing in neighbourhood development and management. The Netherlands are now implementing policies that support elderly people to remain and grow old in their current dwellings instead of ‘moving’ them into old people’s homes or nursing homes. A precondition for the success of such policies is that elderly people feel safe in their homes and that they perceive their neighbourhoods as familiar, safe, clean and a nice place to grow old. Whereas physical measures inside houses to accommodate lower mobility and health problems are relatively straightforward, creating ‘age-friendly’ neighbourhoods or even cities is much more difficult. An important issue is to what extent recent neighbourhood regeneration policies have resulted in meaningful improvements for elderly people, especially for those who remain living in regeneration areas. This paper aims to establish medium term impacts of regeneration interventions on housing situation, social support networks and socioeconomic position of elderly people in Hoogvliet, a district at the edge of the city of Rotterdam.