Romanian Older Adults’ Views of the Age-Friendliness of their City: The Importance of Digital Technologies

Abstract

Regions around the world have undergone different patterns of urbanization, with North America and Europe currently being the most urbanized areas: over 75% of the people live in urban communities [1, 2]. Eventually, people will grow old in cities and experience all aspects of the urban environment later in life. The World Health Organization [3] launched the age-friendly city and communities’ movement that proposes solutions for older people to age actively by improving their welfare and social participation. In Europe, numerous urban communities are following the age-friendly city agenda and have become members of the Global Age-Friendly Cities Network. The concept of an age-friendly city com-prised eight dimensions: (1) outdoor spaces and buildings; (2) transportation; (3) housing; (4) social participation; (5) respect and social inclusion; (6) civic partici-pation and employment; (7) communication and information; and (8) community support and health services. Using a qualitative explorative approach, we con-ducted a series of interviews with older adults (60 years and more) in Bucharest (N=20) from December 2023 to June 2024 to understand their meaning of an “age-friendly" community and the perceived role of digital technology in the pro-cess of making urban communities more livable. The results are analyzed by con-trasting the views of more vulnerable older adults (over 76 years) with poor health conditions with the younger and more active respondents (aged 60 to 65 with a good health situation). People over 76 with poor health conditions are not able to enjoy the quality of life in the city, compared to the more active seniors, usually below 65 years, who are looking for cultural and social opportunities to live in the urban community. The results reveal the role of digital familiarity in en-joying city opportunities and the importance of communication and information in the way older adults envisage the "age-friendliness" of their community.