Place-based ageing and social interaction in a Belfast neighbourhood

Through the use of a comprehensive questionnaire survey with 347 residents, the research investigates the inter-relationships between self-rated mobility, frequency and type of social interaction and perception of neighbourhood quality, applying factor analysis to identify the dominant discourses underlying subjective neighbourhood quality. The analysis indicates that positively rated neighbourhood characteristics related to better mobility and higher frequencies of diverse modes of social interaction.

Through follow-up interviews with public health and planning policy and practice, the research uncovers a reluctance around the concept of age-specific planning policy, underscored by an adherence to spatial equality. Accordingly, the thesis uses the results of the survey to suggest a series of short term and long-term recommendations for planning policy and practice which instead aim to improve spatial equity for older adults through the provision of better environmental maintenance, access to greenspace, the reduction of car dependency and the rethinking of in-neighbourhood housing options.

Finally, it is recommended that urban planning scholars give more credence to socio-spatial affordances experienced by older adults in suburban neighbourhoods. <br><br><i>Thesis embargoed until 31 December 2026</i>.<br>