Speaker's Presentations

Julia Twigg

Dress, Embodiment and the Cultural Turn in Age Studies

This keynote explores the role of cultural analysis in the study of later years, using the example of clothing and dress to suggest how we need to go beyond a focus that looks simply at old age in terms of frailty or public policy - though these are important subjects - to explore the cultural constitution of age and its impact on day to day experience.

The session focusses on the role of consumption, and in doing so engages with the broader significance of the Cultural Turn for the study of ageing. Clothes intersect with key issues in gerontology, in particular ones relating to the body and its cultural expression. Clothes, for example, are part of how social difference is made manifest.

Though we are accustomed to this in relation to class and gender, it applies to age also. Exploring the ways clothes are age ordered thus allows us to interrogate age as a form of identity and a social category. It also allows us to examine arguments about change, particularly though debates on the reconstitution of ageing and the potential role of consumption culture in this.

Fernando Brandão Alves

Designing Age-friendly Environments

Population ageing and urbanization are two global trends that together represent the major forces shaping the twenty-first century.

Among citizens, elderly are most probably those that are more available to become involved with new figurines of public life, detached from the general strong tendency to follow the virtual social spheres, and therefore helping to generate new spaces and public life.

The scale of application aims the urban design principles to respond to the emergent cultural effect of ageing population, in reference to new local policies/ governance and professionals to get age-friendly urban design practices, attending to the contribution of citizens’ active ageing as a vehicle to potentiate new shapes of public life, exploring the concept of age-friendly urban design and programmes.

Concerning to this it is emerging a new paradigm of culture about active ageing in a humanistic perspective of urban design that can constitute an innovative tool to potentiate public life in contrast to the porous network of our daily virtual lives and spaces.

Keywords: public life; quality of public space; age-friendly places; urban design; liveable places; municipal programmes.

Hélder Lopes

Desenhar políticas, repensar territórios: estratégias de valorização de espaços envelhecidos

Ao longo dos anos, as áreas rurais têm sofrido alguns problemas de despovoamento e, consequentemente, de envelhecimento, associado à incapacidade de fixar e manter indivíduos nestas áreas.

O desenvolvimento mais sustentável dos municípios ou regiões em áreas rurais requerem uma estratégia mais adequada para que seja possível responder aos problemas que se associam a estes territórios mais periféricos, designadamente o combate ao despovoamento, ao envelhecimento, à fragilidade do tecido económico, à debilidade da espessura institucional, bem como ao encerramento de equipamentos e serviços básicos, tais como os cuidados de saúde. Neste sentido, vários municípios têm desenvolvido inúmeras estratégias de desenvolvimento territorial, onde procuram verter políticas setoriais adaptadas, capazes de garantir a valorização dos recursos endógenos, e diminuir o envelhecimento destes espaços geográficos. Uma das áreas setoriais de atuação pode assentar na atividade turística, onde é possível mitigar os fenómenos de despovoamento e contribuir para o robustecimento da economia local e/ ou regional.

Ainda assim, é fundamental considerar-se que a convergência territorial inerente a estas estratégias é ainda muito pouco visível em alguns dos territórios e as repercussões de uma mesma solução têm impactes muito distintos, em função das potencialidades e das oportunidades locais, muitas das vezes antagónicas.

Michael Bol

Dementia Village Project

'As an architect Michael Bol creates custom living environments for elderly people with dementia. No big anonymous buildings, but instead manageable and pleasant residential areas. Where it is comfortable for everyone to live.

Where residents feel safe at home, connected with family, caregivers and healthcare providers.
One of his most famous projects is The Hogeweyk - NL: common recognizable and familiar building blocks are designed, organized en built from a social approach. Look at day to day life and create conditions for the residents so that they are challenged by recognizable incentives to remain active in daily, precious life.

Small groups residents with shared interests and backgrounds live together in a lifestyle-group. The design and decoration of the homes and surroundings is tailored to the lifestyles. Michael is convinced that his holistic approach matters for people who care and that his process of co-desiging can make a difference for the residents, family, caregivers and healthcare providers.'

Simone Bracht Burmeister

Autonomy and independence as a protection factor, health and quality os life in aging.

In 2017 the Datafolha Institute (Private Research Institute) conducted a survey in all regions of Brazil with 2700 elderly people to identify the main fears of old age. The survey showed that 84% are afraid of physical dependence and 83% are afraid of mental dependence or loss of autonomy.

In the practice of the office, questions about autonomy and independence arise both in the speech of the elderly and in the family. They wonder even when they live alone, even when driving their own car or when there will be a need to have caregivers. There is a difficulty defining the line that divides independence and care. How to assess the capabilities of the elderly and the risks at the same time as it values and stimulates independence?

Maintaining autonomy and independence are characteristics of health, but also are factors of maintenance of physical and emotional health. Autonomous and independent elders are more active and participatory in society and in the family and therefore less exposed to discrimination and violence.

Round Table Discussion: Ageing and Sleep

Organizado por: Associação Portuguesa de Microbiologia do Sono

O sono adequado é um requisito fundamental à vida, ao bem-estar e à saúde. Porém, o sono varia ao longo do processo normal de envelhecimento e as necessidades, quer as relacionadas com o tempo/duração, quer as relacionadas com a qualidade e características estruturais especificas do sono, variam em cada etapa, relacionando-se com a idade biológica, com a idade cronológica e com diversos factores directa ou indirectamente associados a cada uma dessas etapas. Se na criança existe um salto no desenvolvimento, para o qual o sono contribui de forma significativa com aspectos concretos da sua fisiologia, a actividade laboral comum da fase adulta contribui inexoravelmente para algumas das caracteristicas e para alterações tipicas comuns neste escalão etário. A idade avançada, para além de um decréscimo normal do tempo de sono está associada a uma maior prevalência de patologia e do uso de medicação capaz de interferir, sob multiplos aspectos, na qualidade de sono.

Neste simposio o sono será abordado de acordo com a cronologia do desenvolvimento e envelhecimento humano integrado no estado de saúde e no estado de doença que inevitavelmente nos atinge ao longo da vida.

Round Table Discussion: To fight the social isolation of the elderly people

The project Porto.Importa-se, initiated in October 2017, as the result of a partnership between the Higher Institute of Social Work of Porto and Domus Social - Housing and Maintenance Company of the Municipality of Porto, arises with the purpose of fighting against situations of social isolation in elderly people living in the city's social housing neighborhoods and giving visibility to the multiple situations of fragility that affect them and that make it impossible to live an active aging. It is understood that the multiple problems experienced by the elderly, especially social isolation, have to be known and diagnosed by professionals working in the field of social intervention in the city of Porto. Thus, starting from the political paradigm of active aging, it is intended to identify situations of risk in access to a set of basic social resources that favor the preservation of well-being, health and maintenance of social networks.

Methodologically designed as an action research project, it is aimed at 1592 isolated elderly people with 70 or more years old and 586 couples of elderly people aged 75 years old and over, living in the city's social housing neighborhoods, to whom a protocol of information will be applied, centered on the collection of a set of sociodemographic variables, characterization of economic and social resources, characterization of housing and security conditions, evaluation of the ability to perform basic and instrumental activities of daily life, and variables related to health and to the use of local services and resources.

It is intended that the diagnosed risk situations be addressed and fixed in a network intervention logic, based on the construction of solid and sustainable partnerships with the Town Councils and local structures of social solidarity. The aim is to foster local, formal and informal potentialities and solidarity networks, considering long-term interventions, based on the already installed capacity in the region as well as the dynamization of the methodology of "case management”.

Joana Guedes

To fight the social isolation of the elderly people

The project Porto.Importa-se, initiated in October 2017, as the result of a partnership between the Higher Institute of Social Work of Porto and Domus Social - Housing and Maintenance Company of the Municipality of Porto, arises with the purpose of fighting against situations of social isolation in elderly people living in the city's social housing neighborhoods and giving visibility to the multiple situations of fragility that affect them and that make it impossible to live an active aging. It is understood that the multiple problems experienced by the elderly, especially social isolation, have to be known and diagnosed by professionals working in the field of social intervention in the city of Porto. Thus, starting from the political paradigm of active aging, it is intended to identify situations of risk in access to a set of basic social resources that favor the preservation of well-being, health and maintenance of social networks.

Methodologically designed as an action research project, it is aimed at 1592 isolated elderly people with 70 or more years old and 586 couples of elderly people aged 75 years old and over, living in the city's social housing neighborhoods, to whom a protocol of information will be applied, centered on the collection of a set of sociodemographic variables, characterization of economic and social resources, characterization of housing and security conditions, evaluation of the ability to perform basic and instrumental activities of daily life, and variables related to health and to the use of local services and resources.

It is intended that the diagnosed risk situations be addressed and fixed in a network intervention logic, based on the construction of solid and sustainable partnerships with the Town Councils and local structures of social solidarity. The aim is to foster local, formal and informal potentialities and solidarity networks, considering long-term interventions, based on the already installed capacity in the region as well as the dynamization of the methodology of "case management”.

Fabio Medina

AVIDAVALE project

Presentation of the AVIDAVALE project:The main objective of this project is to reduce the social and territorial isolation of elderly people, focusing in priority on people living in isolated houses in the Odemira county on the Alentejo coast.

Leonor Mendonça

It’s never too late – new accessibility concepts

Having been elected for the second time in a row the best European tourist destination by the World Travel Awards, Portugal has an increased responsibility in enabling the universal accessibility in tourist services. Becomes imminent to consider the importance of all segments and to create conditions for a differentiated tourism offer, capable of covering the specific needs of the emerging publics.

The concept of senior tourism has evolved over the years, being not only a common leisure form, but a new challenge as a decisive factor in combating seasonality. Whoever seeks us, seeks to find the right conditions for their needs and to live a memorable experience, according to their demands and limitations, beliefs and will of their own, making the most of what life has to offer - live!

The capacitation of all players in this tourist experience and the breakdown of attitude barriers related to global accessibility – Tourism for all, is the opportunity to transform an existing offer into a distinguishing offer capable of standing apart from similar ones. From the arrival to the departure, cross sectional training of all players is mandatory, regarding offer provision of tourist and ancillary services.