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“Life Course of Place”: Older Adults' Social Networks and Informal Help Amidst Urban Change
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Abstract: This article examines how older adults, who are long‐term residents in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, engage in informal help amid neighborhood change. While dominant narratives often frame older adults as passive recipients of care, this study highlights their often‐overlooked role as informal caregivers within their neighborhoods. Drawing on 19 life story interviews conducted in two Brussels neighborhoods, Kuregem and Brabantwijk, the study analyzes how changes in population composition, public safety, and neighborhood decay affect older adults’ social networks and neighborly relations. Using a “life course of place” approach and an “ethics of care” perspective, the analysis shows how neighborhood environments and older residents co‐evolve over time. Using composite vignettes as an innovative narrative method, the findings show that neighborhood change has led to reduced social networks, which can hinder informal help. At the same time, long‐term residents respond to these changes through localized informal help, drawing on their environmental knowledge, natural neighborhood networks, and personal commitment to helping others. Local community centers are key infrastructures fostering informal help as places where neighbors meet and support each other. The findings present a counter‐narrative to hegemonic aging discourses by demonstrating how long‐term residents enact care in ways that resist the social exclusion often associated with urban disadvantage. This article contributes to urban planning debates on social infrastructure, aging in place, and the daily practices that sustain public urban cultures of care.
Keywords: aging in place; caring communities; disadvantaged urban neighborhoods; ethics of care; informal help; long‐term residents; neighborhood change; older adults; social networks
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Vol 10 (2025): Public Urban Cultures of Care (In Progress)
© Bas Dikmans, Rodrigo Serrat, Hannelore Stegen, Toon Vercauteren, Liesbeth De Donder, Sarah Dury. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction of the work without further permission provided the original author(s) and source are credited.