Innovation: Active seniors in urban neighbourhoods

Belgium

AAI Domains:

• Participation in society (social connectedness, volunteering)

• Independent, healthy and secure living (physical safety, independent living)

• Capacity and enabling environment (use of ICT)

There are widely recognised risks to health and well-being as a result of social isolation and loneliness that can affect people of any age. However, older people are at elevated risk of social isolation and loneliness as their social networks may diminish after they leave work or as their mobility declines. In urban environments with ageing populations there is a pressing need to develop innovative approaches to encourage older people to live independently and safely in their own homes for as long as they wish and to provide a range of opportunities for the development of social networks and connectedness.

As part of the European Union’s Design-Led Innovations for Active Ageing project that covered eight cities (Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Barcelona, Sofia, Warsaw, Berlin and Antwerp) a number of creative solutions were developed. Social inclusion of seniors in urban neighbourhoods aims to detect and prevent social isolation and loneliness among older people by providing a range of opportunities for social interaction and building social solidarity and connections.

The Flemish government has recognised that social isolation and loneliness are growing social issues that need to be addressed as the population ages and has mandated public services to develop inclusive strategies to address this issue. Research has estimated that 18% of older people in Flanders are lonely and in a city such as Antwerp with a population of just over 500,000 and just over 110,000 people over the age of 60 years it is likely that there are approximately 20,000 older people who feel lonely.

Zorgbedrijf Antwerpen is a health care company that provides a range of social care services from long-term residential care, assisted living apartments, social centres for older people and care services in the community that has developed a number of social innovations.

The NeighbourhoodNet Attention for Seniors started in 2012 that seeks to identify older people at risk of social isolation and loneliness and then uses volunteer neighbourhood networkers to get in contact with them and invite them to participate in a range of social activities. For example, conversation groups – RapKlap – are informal gatherings over coffee at local social service centres as a way of encouraging engagement with the wider range of services that are provided in the centres. These include meals, café. hairdressers, hand and foot care services, transport links, recreational activities and assistance with any household administration.

The wider aim is to build a caring neighbourhood and to help realise this ambition a local exchange trading systems allows older people to access services provided locally through an ICT platform. While there have been challenges in the use of ICT by older people the Opbouwwerk system has gradually developed and contributes to building a more cohesive local community.

Zorbedrijf Antwerpen have also played a leading role in the Home Sweet Home project that operates in Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Spain through the use of technology in assisted living apartments. Technological adjustments such as remotely operated doors, mobile personal alarms, mobile health monitors, a touch screen device for memory training games that also controls the environment and a smart TV that enables older people to talk to each other have all been developed and fitted. All of these innovations have been developed with users and have been funded by a mixture of European, Flemish government and municipal financing.

In relation to active ageing, the social inclusion of seniors in urban neighbourhoods in Antwerp involves the innovative use of ICT to build social connectedness between older people who are at elevated risk of social isolation and loneliness. The NeighbourhoodNet enables the identification of at risk older people and the operation of the local exchange trading system.

There is an important role for volunteers to contact older people and to build social networks in their local community through encouraging the use of existing social centres for older people. Adaptations to assisted living apartments enable older people to live independently and to age in place safely for as long as they are able and wish to do so.

Zorgbedrijf Antwerpen website