Fostering Age-‐Friendly Rural Communities in the North of The
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Fostering Age-Friendly Rural Communities in the North of the Netherlands An exploratory case study in the Oldambt municipality Vincent de Vegt MASTER THESIS | SOCIO-SPATIAL PLANNING | FACULTY OF SPATIAL SCIENCES RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN Colophon Title: Fostering Age-Friendly Rural Communities in the North of the Netherlands Author: Vincent J. de Vegt S2517094 [email protected] Program: MSc Socio-Spatial Planning Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Faculty of Spatial Sciences Landleven 1 9747 AD Groningen Supervisor: Dr. W.S. Rauws, PhD External-Supervisor: Dr. E. Bulder, PhD External Institute: Kenniscentrum NoorderRuimte Date: August 2018 Fostering Age-Friendly Rural Communities 2 Preface Dear Reader, This thesis addresses the topic of age-friendliness in rural community in the Netherlands. The need to stimulate the creation of community’s that allow elderly individuals is something that is relevant in both cities and rural regions. However, rural regions receive less attention in academic literature, despite the burden of an ageing population being greater. The motivation to write a thesis on this topic is twofold. First I have always been interested in how the physical and social environment can be shaped through interventions to stimulate healthier behavior. The second motivator was that this topic was offered at the thesis market via a research-center affiliated with the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Kenniscentrum NoorderRuimte. The fact this study can possibly be developed further and built upon at NoorderRuimte motivated me. The supervision of Dr. Elles Bulder helped me to expand the theories and theoretical thinking to more practical applications. Also the contacts and expertise within NoorderRuimte helped develop a thesis that can hopefully be of use to the people living in Oldambt. The entire process began in November of 2017 and came to a close in August of 2018. I would like to thank all the individuals that contributed to this research. In particular, everyone who agreed to an interview. Also I would like to thank the organizations that helped with the distribution of the survey: Dorpsbelangen Midwolda, BNS Nieuws and Dorpsbelangen Westerlee. I would also like to thank my supervisor from the faculty Ward Rauws in particular. The feedback given was always stimulating me to this research as complete as possible, while staying on track. As well as being enthusiastic during the entire process. Vincent J. de Vegt Fostering Age-Friendly Rural Communities 3 Abstract A worldwide ageing population has led to the development of the age-friendly cities program. Rural areas are however proportionally more affected by an ageing population. Rural regions face different challenges in becoming age-friendly than cities. Out-migration of younger individuals creates a ‘double burden’ on the ageing population. Leading to a demographic change that is unique to rural declining regions. Interventions and programs that are designed for cities are unlikely to succeed in the context of a rural community. Without proper adjustment to the local context. This is confirmed in academic literature. Rural regions require a different and often tailor made approach. The international literature regarding age-friendly rural communities is scarce in comparison to studies focused on urban regions. However, the WHO approach of dividing age-friendliness into eight domains can be applied. This research is an exploratory case study into three of the eight WHO domains of age-friendliness. Namely: Housing, Civic Participation & Employment and Community Support & Health Services. Each domain has been analyzed through three indicators. Through interviews, survey’s and a document analysis it became evident that most of the indicators are valid after slight modification. These modified indicators can be used to further improve the age-friendliness. Expanding age-friendliness in the municipality is currently limited by both municipal and national policies. As well as limited citizen participation. Age-friendliness can be improved by addressing the conflicting policies regarding housing in order to stimulate more age-friendly homes and home modifications. Civic participation improved through focusing on stimulating intrinsically motivating initiatives amongst residents. Community support & Health Services can develop by aiding in the creation of community based care initiatives. While at the same time stimulating cooperation between formal and informal care providers. Keywords: Age-Friendly, Citizen Initiative, Rural, Population Decline, Place-based planning Fostering Age-Friendly Rural Communities 4 List of Abbreviations BAG: Basisregistraties adressen en gebouwen (Base registration addresses and buildings) CBS: Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (Central Bureau for Statistics) CP&E: Civic Participation and Employment CS&HS: Community Support and Health Services ISA: Integrated Service Area OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PBL: Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) SWO: Sociaal Werk Oldambt (Social work Oldambt) UN: United Nations WHO: World Health Organization Fostering Age-Friendly Rural Communities 5 Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... 6 Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................. 8 Tables ............................................................................................................................................ 8 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Objectives and Research Questions ......................................................................................... 10 1.3 Structure .................................................................................................................................. 11 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................... 12 2.1.1 Age Friendly Places ............................................................................................................... 12 2.1.2 DoMains of Age-Friendliness ................................................................................................ 13 2.1.3 Defining and Redefining Age-Friendly .................................................................................. 14 2.1.4 Person-EnvironMent Fit ........................................................................................................ 17 2.1.5 Life-Course Age Friendliness ................................................................................................. 17 2.1.6 Active vs. Stoic seniors .......................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Rural CoMMunities ............................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2 Definition of Rural ................................................................................................................. 20 2.2.3 CoMMunity ........................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.3 Rural Restructuring ............................................................................................................... 22 2.3. Age-Friendly in Dutch Rural Contexts ..................................................................................... 22 2.3.2 Housing ................................................................................................................................. 24 2.3.3 Civic Participation and EmployMent ..................................................................................... 25 2.3.4 CoMMunity Support and Health Services ............................................................................. 27 2.4 Conceptual Model. ................................................................................................................... 29 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Research Outline ...................................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Case Selection .......................................................................................................................... 34 3.3 Research Method .................................................................................................................... 36 3.3.1 SeMi-Structured Interviews .................................................................................................. 37 3.3.2 Interview Analysis ................................................................................................................. 38 3.3.3 Survey ................................................................................................................................... 39 3.3.4 Survey Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 39 3.3.5 DocuMent Analysis ............................................................................................................... 40 3.3.5 Ethical