Benches as Mediations of Age in Public Space – A critical case study from Age-friendly Wallonia, Belgium

Moulaert, Thibauld;Leleu, Myriam;Masson, Olivier;Grabczan, Robert
(2018) 47th British Society of Gerontology : Ageing in an Unequal WorldShaping Environments for the 21st Century — Location: Manchester, UK (4.July.2018)

Files

No attached file found for this publication.

Details

Authors
Abstract
In its promotion of “active ageing” through Age Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC), the World Health Organization (WHO) develops a vision of ageing linking environments to personal lifestyle and community support. To exemplify the mediation of the individual and the social, an image and materialised practice is often used: the benches. This paper asks: How are benches framed within local Age-friendly initiatives? Our exploratory study is based on recurrent observations of the presence of benches not only in documents supporting AFCC at international level but also in local practices. In this paper, we specifically use material from Age-friendly Wallonia, a pilot-project led by Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). We compare experiences and representations of benches for older people, public employees and elected officials from three contrasted case studies: a urban center, a lower-economic remote neighborhood and a semi-rural area. Benches can be seen as an ideal-type to understand how powerful actors like WHO, planners and architects, but also older adults themselves understand and enact ageing. While they mainly refer to their material dimensions for public employees and to the symbolic action of local authorities for elected officials, they illustrate a variety of mediations of ageing in public space for older people. For some, benches are indeed a tool to rest or sit and relax. For others, benches are a tool for socialization, against exclusion. Benches might even be a mediation to stay connected with their physical and social environment. Conclusions explore the limits and the promise of this exploratory research.
Affiliations

Citations

  • APA
  • Chicago
  • FWB

Moulaert, T., Leleu, M., Masson, O., & Grabczan, R. (2018). Benches as Mediations of Age in Public Space – A critical case study from Age-friendly Wallonia, Belgium. 47th British Society of Gerontology : Ageing in an Unequal WorldShaping Environments for the 21st Century, Manchester, UK. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/169178