Place-Making with Older People, Towards Age Friendly Communities: The PLACEAGE Brazil Project.

The PlaceAge Brazil consists of two projects funded first by ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) in the UK (2016-2019), and later by CNPQ (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), FAPERGS (Foundation for the Support of Research in the State of Rio Grande do Sul), and Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil (2016-2024). The research aims are: (i) to investigate how sense of place is experienced by older people from different social settings living in diverse neighbourhoods in Brazil; (ii) to translate these experiences into designs for age-friendly communities that support sense of place; (iii) to better articulate the role of older adults as active placemakers in the design process by involving the community at all stages of the research. We undertake a national case study approach. A comparative national case study approach is needed to understand the diversity of place-based experiences of older adults, and how this is influenced by neighbourhood, social contexts, welfare regimes and processes of urban governance and planning. We selected three cities as case studies in Brazil (Brasilia, Pelotas and Belo Horizonte). The case study cities have been selected to represent a broad spectrum of urban areas in terms of demography (mixed tenures by age), inequality (high- and low- income groups), topography (different types of urban densities and form) and urban development (varying levels of physical transformation and change). Quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to understand people’s behaviour and sense of place: surveys, interviews, walking interviews, photo diaries, participatory mapping, world cafe, and political forums. The final report was presented for the local government of each case study city, and ageing in place public policies were considered to be implemented in 2024. The Covid pandemic's impact on data was also investigated and produced recommendations for public policies.