The impact of place attachment on well-being for older people in high-density urban environment: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Aging in place has become a popular social policy worldwide. This paper argues that well-being is an important outcome of aging in place, upon which older people develop autonomy and environmental proactivity. The temporal dimension of aging in place highlights development of place attachment, which includes place identity and place dependence. The study explores how older people, who live inhigh-density urban environments, make sense of well-being and place attachment by articulating their daily lives. Community dwelling older people aged 65 and above, who came from neighborhoods with high aging population and residential density but high and low median household incomes, were invited for focus group discussions. Multifaceted meanings of well-being include various dimensions that cover individual-collective and material-spiritual (psychological) construct. Meanings of place attachment include values of, bonding ties to, and memories about places. Three pathways are identified linking place attachment and multifaceted well-being. The study finds that social welfare and material richness are not the only determinants of well-being. Fulfillment of higher psychological needs, such as positive evaluation of life and self-actualization, should be emphasized by which older people can make the most of their life in old age.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging in place
• place attachment
• Well-being
• High-density cities
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the constructive comments from the anonymous reviewers and editors. Our thanks must also go to all focus group participants and older adult centers that showed us strong supports during the pandemic. Thank you to Professor Jean Woo from the Chinese University of Hong Kong for her insightful comments on the research findings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (Project Number: 2019.A6.145.19D) from the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (CUHK14613320), and the Research Sustainability of Major RGC Funding Schemes 2018-19—Environmental Health and Environmental Justice at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.