The Age friendly Movement Policy in Manchester: The Creation of Sustainable changes to Active Ageing: A Longitudinal Study

Research on quality of life in older age identifies the importance of ageing in place, sense of community, and social relationships for active and successful ageing. Drawing from these findings, the World Health Organisation emphasise eight areas for achieving quality of life in later life: housing, transportation, respect and social inclusion, social participation, social and civic engagement, outdoor spaces and buildings, community support and health services and communication and information.

We know from this body of work that there is great potential in cities for older people's lives to be lived better, and that social participation, autonomy and supportive home and neighbourhood environments are key in achieving this. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little known about the impact of real-life interventions on participants' day-to-day lived experience in urban environments. Whilst there has been some research on the successes and downfalls of age-friendly projects, there are very few academic studies that consider how such projects aim to, and do or do not, improve quality of life for older people.

By focussing on the age-friendly movement in Manchester, this study aims to create a working framework for evaluating the success of age-friendly projects, by considering their impact on known domains of quality of life. This research will therefore investigate whether real-life age-friendly projects, often working under challenging conditions, can make a positive difference for older people.

The lived experience of older people in cities is formed and continuously affected by policy, and the way projects are created and applied. My Master's proposal will examine two different age-friendly projects from two different urban environments within Manchester. The aim of the dissertation will be to explore the effects that different environmental conditions have on age-friendly policy making. This will include identifying how and which quality of life domains are consciously inserted into projects, how aware policy makers are of these domains, and how they actively seek to make changes aimed at combating urban challenges.

Within each project, I will undertake eight one-hour (approx.) interviews with a range of policy makers and service providers. These might include for example funders, project manager, fundraisers and designers. Interviewing policy makers will enable them to communicate how age-friendly Manchester policy is being shaped by the urban circumstances and allow me to investigate whether and how quality of life domains are conceptualised in age-friendly projects.

The Doctoral project will be a longitudinal study over an extended period, focusing on three further age-friendly projects, each at different stages of development. These will include an anticipated project, a project being implemented, and a project which has been firmly established. This research will focus on participants' lived experiences in longitudinal perspective.

I will study two similar groups of participants from each project. The first group from each site will consist of eight policy makers, and the second of eight older participants of the project, with 48 interviewees in all. I will be following a pre-determined frame of three consecutive semi-structured interviews with each interviewee. The first interview will centre on the previous experiences with the age-friendly project, the second based on current experience, and the third will combine the gathered information from both interviews to describe the individuals specific experience with the project. I will undertake these interviews within the first two years, with the third year of my PhD for final analysis, writing up and policy involvement. This project will contribute to academic knowledge and aid of future assessments of projects.