Employing citizen science to enhance active and healthy ageing in urban environments

G E R Wood; J Pykett; A Banchoff; A C King; A Stathi; Improving Your Local Area Citizen Scientists and Community Stakeholders

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102954

Employing citizen science to enhance active and healthy ageing in urban environments

Health Place. 2023 Jan:79:102954. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102954. Epub 2022 Dec 6.

Authors

G E R Wood¹, J Pykett², A Banchoff³, A C King⁴, A Stathi⁵; Improving Your Local Area Citizen Scientists and Community Stakeholders

Affiliations

¹ School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: g.wood.3@bham.ac.uk.
² School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.
³ Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA; Department of Medicine, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA.
⁵ School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.

PMID: 36493495
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102954

Abstract

Engaging older residents in problem definition and solution-building is key to the success of place-based initiatives endeavouring to increase the age-friendliness of urban environments. This study employed the Our Voice framework, engaging older adult citizen scientists (n = 14) and community stakeholders (n = 15) across the city of Birmingham, UK. With the aim of identifying urban features impacting age friendliness and co-producing recommendations for improving local urban areas, citizen scientists participated in 12 technology-enabled walkability assessments, three in-person discussion groups, two one-to-one online discussions, and two workshops with community stakeholders. Together, citizen scientists co-produced 12 local and six city-wide recommendations. These recommendations were embedded into an implementation framework based on workshop discussions to identify age-friendly pathways in urban environments.

Keywords: Age-friendly; Co-production; Older adults; Place-based; Urban health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cities
Citizen Science*
Healthy Aging*
Humans