Socio-spatial aspects of ageing in an urban context: an example from three Czech Republic cities

Urban Ageing in Europe—Spatiotemporal Analysis of Determinants

The aim of this study was to identify determinants of the population ageing process in 270 European cities. We analyzed the proportion of older people: men and women separately (aged 65 or above) in city populations in the years 1990–2018. To understand territorially-varied relationships and to increase the explained variability of phenomena, an explanatory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were applied. We used ArcGIS and GeoDa software in this study. In our research, we also took into account the spatial interactions as well as the structure of cities by size and level of economic development. Results of the analysis helped to explain why some urban areas are ageing faster than others. An initial data analysis indicated that the proportion of the elderly in the population was spatially diversified and dependent on gender, as well as the size and economic development of a unit. In general, elderly individuals were more willing to live in larger and highly developed cities; however, women tended to live in large areas and men in medium-sized to large urban areas. Then, we conducted the urban ageing modelling for men and women separately. The application of GWR models enabled not only the specification of the city population ageing determinants, but also the analysis of the variability in the strength and direction of dependencies occurring between the examined variables in individual cities. Significant differences were noted in the analysis results for specific cities, which were often grouped due to similar parameter values, forming clusters that divided Europe into the eastern and western parts. Moreover, substantial differences in results were obtained for women and men.

Ageing in place: residential satisfaction in Polish housing-estate communities

During the period of economic and political transformations in Poland, considerable changes occurred in large housing estates, while demographic transformation and housing-stock ageing starting to aggravate social and spatial problems. The serious issue currently dominating such estates concerns the process of natural ageing of the housing stock and residential ageing which is associated with the reduction of residential mobility and demographic ageing of people living in the large housing estates. This paper intends to identify ageing of the estates’ population in the context of the evaluation of residential life quality. The authors concentrated on analysis of 2002 and 2011 statistical data, as well as data collected during their field surveys conducted in 2010–2012. Detailed studies were carried out on seven estates in five cities and towns in Poland (Kraków, Poznań, Tarnów, Żyrardów and Dzierżoniów). To identify the residential standard and quality of life, surveys were conducted on housing estates which allowed the researchers to establish the essential factors which determined the level of satisfaction of older people with regard to their place of residence. The authors also determined the course of changes in the perception of particular aspects of life quality in the process of residents’ ageing in the selected places of residence.