There is no shortage of research focusing on urban deprivation, a fair portion of which addresses the significance of neighbourhoods, everyday life and social exclusion. Smith notes, however, that much of this research focuses on children, young people, adults of working age and families, and rarely adopts an international comparative perspective. In response, this book examines the largely neglected experience of older people living in deprived urban areas in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). The book explores why some older people are content to ‘age in place’ while others reject their neighbourhoods as good places to age, and it addresses the shortfall in knowledge about older people's attachment to deprived neighbourhoods. It also explores what factors underlie the desire for, or the rejection of, ageing in place in deprived neighbourhoods, and the consequent impact on quality of life. This is more than a theoretically informed empirical study; it is also an attempt to reinvigorate a ‘languishing’ environmental gerontology.
The author adopts an international focus with research conducted in five inner-city districts in Vancouver, Canada and Manchester, UK. The majority of the findings are based on interviews with 52 people, 26 in each country, living in five neighbourhoods in the two cities. Participant biographies are presented as detailed case-studies in the text and in a useful appendix, and are testament to Smith's efforts to achieve analytically transparent, authentic re-presentations of older people's voices. The book has three sections: the first, ‘Revisiting the Person–Environment Fit’ has two chapters and provides a useful overview of the environmental gerontology literature, which should prove a valuable introduction to students and neophyte researchers and a useful reminder for others. Here, criticisms of existing knowledge, including the inattention paid to ageing in deprived urban neighbourhoods, the methodological limitations of quantitative techniques, and a neglect of individual temporalities are used as a way of introducing the research.
The second section, ‘Rethinking the Person–Environment Fit’, outlines the results of the empirical research in three chapters and is, for me, the most interesting part of the book. This section begins with an introduction to the areas that are the focus of the study. Alongside the customary statistical and historical descriptions are three interesting photographic essays produced by participants in the study. A chapter entitled ‘Ageing in urban neighbourhoods’ considers the interview findings. Here, the aim is to understand better the factors that underpin older people's desire to age in place despite multiple risks, and conversely, why others reject ageing in place. Analysis is structured around a three-part framework that categorises ageing in urban environments according to environmental comfort (in which the environment appears less significant and quality of life is rated good or very good), environmental management (individuals are acutely aware of the environment, demonstrate management or strategies of daily living, and rate quality of life as ‘neither good nor poor, or good’ (p. 89) and environmental distress (no evidence of place attachment, quality of life generally rated poor to very poor). These categories are explored in more detail through consideration of eight case-study participants. Another chapter presents a re-conceptualisation of the person–environment relationship. Drawing on further detailed analysis, it is proposed that time (including past, present and future lives), ‘intervening variables’ such as religion, and the lifecourse should be considered in the person–environment relationship. The three chapters in the final section of the book, ‘Refocusing the Person–Environment Fit’, present ‘the way forward’ for environmental gerontology research, policy and practice, and considers the influences, opportunities and challenges for those interested in the process of ageing in place.
Reflecting on the book, I am not sure about the purpose of the international comparison. Ultimately, I learnt little about how the specific Canadian and British political, historical, social and economic contexts impacted on the experiences of ageing, the policy recommendations are generally skewed towards a British rather Canadian audience, and I wondered whether all the recommendations were supported by the evidence presented. While this is undoubtedly a book about ageing in place, reading about the participants' experiences, it seems that these are not only stories about ageing, but also about how place itself ages: about the decline of environmental quality, the loss of neighbours and friends. Although readers are offered at times discussion of neighbourhood change, this is relegated to the spatial backdrop rather than part of the intertwining of the place of ageing and the ageing of place. It would be unfair though, to leave a critical impression of this well-written book. The analysis and discussion are built on solid research, and the participants' voices come through strongly, though I was a little surprised to read that ‘not since the ground-breaking work of Peter Townsend in the 1950s have the experiences of older people living in environments characterised by multiple risks been examined in depth’ (p. 3). Hyperbole aside, this is an excellent example of how well-crafted empirical research can make a forceful contribution to debates on environment and ageing.
