Making Sense of Home Among Ethnic Minority Older Adults: Experiences of Aging in Place Among the Turkish Community in London

Abstract

The importance of home in constructing notions of identity, self, and belonging is well recognized in the aging in place literature. However, much of the research has focused on mainstream population groups, rather than on the experiences of ethnic minority communities, whose lifecourse trajectories may reveal one of transience in relation to place, aging and home. Based on 48 semi-structured individual interviews and five community mapping workshops with 65 older Turkish adults living in north London, this paper aims to provide insight into how the home is negotiated and understood by older Turkish migrants. Thematic analysis of the data revealed three interrelated themes important to the narratives of older Turkish people: “Home as a reflection of identity and self”, “Home as a social and cultural place” and “Transnationality, mobility and home”.

Keywords:

• home
• migration
• aging in place
• ethnicity

INTRODUCTION

Contextualising Aging, Home and Place

Aging in place has been a key policy driver in recent decades, focused on how older adults can be supported to remain at home and in their community (e.g. Dalmer 2019; Sixsmith and Sixsmith 2008; Wiles et al. 2012). The home and community are critical contexts for supporting physical, social and environmental attachment for the older person (Pani-Harreman et al. 2021; Peace et al., 2006; Peace, 2022). Research on meanings of home among older people have identified its central role in supporting independence and autonomy in old age, as a space of privacy and safety, and where social relationships are negotiated and sustained (Sixsmith 1990; Sixsmith and Sixsmith 2008). Others have highlighted the temporality of home, identifying the importance of lifecourse events and memories in determining sense of place (Rubinstein and Parmelee 1992; Cieraad 2010; Visser 2018). Sixsmith et al. (2014) reflect on the dynamic nature of place and meaning of home in old age, as people negotiate changing relationships between home, neighborhood and the aging body. Peace et al. (2011) and Peace’s (2022) work on the environments of aging, has highlighted the multi-layered physical, psychological, social and political dimensions that constitute home and place in old age.

Place as a theoretical concept has been used to frame experiences of aging-in-place and to understand connection to home and community. For example, place attachment has been identified as important in aging well, describing the emotional bonds and ties with particular places, including home and neighbourhood (Phillips et al. 2012, 79). Place identity has been used to define “those dimensions of self that define the individual’s personal identity in relation to the physical environment” (Proshansky 1978, 155) involving individual’s “incorporation of place into the larger concept of self” (Phillips et al. 2012, 74). The work of Rowles (1983) reinforced the central role of home in ‘sustaining a sense of personal identity’, and the negative outcomes that can arise when transitioning from home in old age. Within this framework, place can be a means to distinguish oneself from others, to preserve a sense of continuity and to maintain positive self-esteem (Twigger-Ross and Uzzell 1996). Peace (2015) identifies the importance of home in understanding the intersections between family and relationships, experienced through a sense of belonging and connection to valued possessions, highlighting the significance of rootedness and connection to place. At the same time, these feelings can sit alongside perceived exclusion, isolation and feelings of marginalisation, impacting one’s position ‘within place’ and experience of place insideness and outsideness.

Aging-in-Place, Migration and Home

Stability and continuity in relation to home and place is seen as critical in supporting older people to age in place and housing transitions in old age can have negative psycho-social outcomes (Wiles, et al. 2009; 2011; Gilleard et al. 2007). However, globalization and international migration, and the increased mobility of older adults have challenged the relationship between home, place attachment and aging in place (e.g. Phillips et al. 2012, 75; Walsh and Näre 2016; Lucas and Purkayastha 2007). For example, Peace et al. (2006), undertaking qualitative research with older adults in London, demonstrate different associations between ‘home’ and ‘homeland’ among migrant older adults, identifying multiple layers of attachment and reflecting the ways in which communication and technological developments are changing the ability for people to connect with other cultures and national contexts from within one setting. Peace (2015) argues that despite the centrality of dwelling to older adults’ conception of home, the meaning of home goes beyond one’s residence to encompass the broader scale of neighborhood and nation, demonstrating the complexity of attachment to place in the age of international migration and globalization.

A number of studies linking migration and aging research have drawn attention to the place making practices of migrant older adults (see for example: Johansson et al. 2013; Buffel, 2017). Johansson et al. (2013) argues that place-making i.e., a process in which humans transform physical spaces into socially relevant and meaningful places, provides a useful lens to understand the complexities of the person-place dynamic, the creation of place identity and the process in which ethnicity and culture are negotiated. In a study of highly mobile middle-class white retirement migrants, Zechner (2017, 585) shows how international mobility is central to their identity utilising the concept of “transnational habitus” to refer to identity building practices among retirement migrants, where older people demonstrate a desire to continue their mobility after retirement as a part of maintaining their identity, if not physically at least psychologically through “non-bodily international mobility”. This positions older migrants experiences of home and mobility in relation to place as interdependent (Wiles, 2007).

Migration, Home and Structural Barriers to Aging Well

Research has shown that older migrants’ home-making practices are influenced by their socio-economic status, ethnicity, and the financial and social capital they have access to (Buffel, 2017; Zechner 2017). In this regard, four categories of older migrants are identified in the scholarly work on aging and migration. The first category includes those affected by international migration who follow their younger family members abroad. The second group of older migrants is made up of relatively affluent international retirement migrants or amenity seeking migrants for whom considerations such as a higher standard of living has been a motivation for migration in old age. The third category concerns labour migrants who moved from the Global South to North to supply the labour market and subsequently aged in place and the fourth category are retirement return migrants who decide to return to their home-land after spending their working lives abroad (Warnes et al. 2004; King and Lulle 2015). The latter two groups are considered as a single category in the majority of the research. Since retirement return migration does not necessarily have to be a permanent physical move and can entail more flexible kinds of mobility such as ongoing travelling between homeland and host society (e.g. Carling and Erdal 2014; Percival, 2013). The term “ethnic minority older adults” is often used in reference to the latter group which is reflective of the relative disadvantaged social position of this group of older migrants compared to lifestyle migrants (e.g. Knowles and Harper 2009; Ciobanu et al. 2017).

Evidence suggests that ethnic minorities in Britain are disproportionately disadvantaged in the housing sector which is reflective of structural barriers in society (Shankley and Finney 2020; Tomlins 1999). Although different from the white British, ethnic minority communities do not all have a common or shared experience (See Harrison 2003). The different housing experiences of various ethnic groups in Britain has been attributed to their socio-economic status, age, gender, household composition and settlement history (Harrison et al. 2005). Peace (2015) draws our attention to the role of intersectionality in experiences of home and housing transitions, being dependent on individuals’ generation, gender, race, as well as sexuality, class and culture.

In a study conducted with ethnic minority older adults, poor housing has been recognized as a key factor leading to ill-health and greater levels of frailty among ethnic minority older adults compared to their white counterparts (Butt and O’Neil, 2004). Poverty, language issues and lack of knowledge about housing options in old age and difficulties in carrying out home adaptations were identified as barriers to restricting ethnic minority’ access to adequate housing options in old age (Croucher 2008). The proportion of rental tenures, both social and private, are also higher among ethnic communities which has been associated with housing deprivation (De Noronha, 2019). This is especially the case for ethnic minority older adults aged 50-64 compared to those aged 65 and over (De Noronha 2019, 2).

The Turkish community in London, as the participant group of focus within this paper, are among the most disadvantaged groups of ethnic communities living in the UK, among whom former labour migrants and refugees are overrepresented (Dedeoglu 2014; Sirkeci 2017). Previous studies on the community’s housing situation in London indicate higher rates of reliance on socially rented accommodation than the national average (D’Angelo et al. 2013) and residential concentration in areas of relatively high deprivation in north London (English IMD 2019). Yet, there is a dearth of research into the lived experiences of older Turkish people (Yazdanpanahi and Hussein 2021; Yazdanpanahi and Woolrych, 2022), and the process of home-making and attachment to place within the context of migration. The paper aims to fill this gap by providing insight into meanings of home for older Turkish adults and the barriers and facilitators to home-making in London among the community.

METHODOLOGY: CAPTURING EXPERIENCES OF HOME AND PLACE AMONG OLDER TURKISH ADULTS

Semi-structured individual interviews were applied as the main data collection tool to collect participants’ experiences. The focus of the interviews was to capture in-depth understandings of home and community, drawing on constructions of place belonging and identity in relation to aging. The interview guide included a series of general questions about participants’ lifecourse experiences of home and community, attitudes toward aging, experiences of migration and life in the UK, and perceptions of aging in place. It is worth noting that the sequence and types of follow-up questions varied from one interview to another depending on participants’ specific situations, priorities and positions with regard to home and aging in place. It was important to provide the freedom and space within the interview for participants to articulate their own understandings of home. The length of the interviews varied from 21 min to 54 min. The average length of the interviews was 32 min.

The semi-structured interviews were supplemented by community mapping workshops (three to five participants attending each workshop) that allowed us to capture collective experiences of home and place making. Burns et al. (2012) define community mapping workshops as a "focus group around a map,” enabling the creation of visual and non-visual data to explore the experiences and emotions associated with a particular physical environment (p. 10). This technique allows participants to move from description to depiction of experiences with places through drawing and talking (Emmel, 2008), which makes it distinctive from focus groups. Instead of utilising a traditional map, in an effort to enable maximum involvement in the study, participants were encouraged to develop a shared mental map of the area they were living in. Application of this technique provided a number of advantages, including increased participation of a more diverse group of older adults with varying mental and cognitive abilities in the research; who, otherwise, could have found it challenging to read the map and identify locations. Community mapping oriented in this way also gave participants a higher degree of flexibility to convey their feelings towards places through drawings. The length of the workshops varied from 45 to 67 min, with the average being 57 min. The agenda for the community mapping workshops involved discussing collective experiences of home and neighbourhood, within the context of migration and place.

In total, 48 semi-structured individual interviews and five community mapping workshops were undertaken with 17 older Turkish adults aged 50 years and above¹ between March and December 2017² in north London were conducted. This was supplemented by 13 expert interviews with coordinators of Turkish associations. Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of Heriot-Watt University before commencement of the fieldwork. We ensured participants’ anonymity, voluntary participation and the right to withdraw from the study at any point. Participants’ written or oral consent was collected before each interview and the community mapping workshops.

Various methods were applied to recruit the participants, including local advertising and researcher participation in community events held in associations and community spaces. Interviews were conducted in various locations of the participants’ choosing including participants’ home (5), Turkish associations (24), community centers (10) and other venues such as mosques (5), and Turkish cafes and restaurants (3). All workshops were held in Turkish associations located in the Hackney and Enfield boroughs of London. Participants in these associations, as well as others recruited through the snowball sampling technique, lived in various areas of north London, including the Haringey Borough of London.

We considered 50 years old as the minimum age threshold for the inclusion of participants in the research, which is lower than usual criteria considered for defining old age. This was mainly due to the lower life expectancy in Turkey compared to western societies as well as cultural beliefs around the start of old age in Turkish culture beginning at 50 (Tahmaseb McConatha et al., 2004; Durmus, 2022). The age range of the participants in the semi-­structured individual interviews varied from 40 to 85, with the average being 64 years old. The same information is not available for community mapping workshops since personal questions like participants’ ages were not collected. However, the same inclusion criteria (aged 50+) used in the individual interviews were applied in the community mapping workshops.

The majority of participants originated from mainland Turkey (47). Two participants were born in London and the rest had migrated from Cyprus (16). The number of female participants for the semi-structured individual interviews was twice that of male respondents (32/16) which is partly explained by the female gender of the researcher that made it challenging to engage in male dominated spaces such as Kahves and mosques. Participants’ average length of stay in the UK was 26 years. In terms of housing tenure, 15% were owner occupiers, 76% of respondents were social renters, and 9% were private renters. The sample is summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. Demographic information of participants.

	Number of participants	Mean age	Gender	Place of Origin^4	Housing tenure^5
			Male female	Turkey Cyprus	Private renting	Social renting	Owner occupier
Individual interviews	48	64	16 32	32 14	4	36	7
Community mapping workshops	17	–	6 11	15  2	1	13	3
Total	65	–	22 43	47 16	5	49	10

All interviews and community mapping workshops were conducted in Turkish, then transcribed and translated to English by the first author. We followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six stage model of thematic analysis to analyze the data. This entailed: (1) Familiarization with the data (reading and re-reading the transcripts by all authors); (2) Generating initial codes (breaking down the data into the smallest meaningful blocks by the authors individually with a focus on experiences of home and developing a coding framework together); (3) Searching for themes (clustering codes into themes and sub-themes based on an inductive approach to allow reflection on participants’ experiences); (4) Reviewing themes (removing, collapsing, converging and renaming themes and sub-themes, through collaborative analysis meetings between the authors), (5) Defining and naming themes by the authors to develop the final set of themes; and (6) Production of a final report that also included referral to the existing literature to support the themes.

We followed the same analytical procedure for individual interviews and community mapping workshops. First, transcripts from community mapping workshops and individual interviews were stored in different databases, and each dataset was analysed and interpreted separately. The themes were then brought together within a convergence coding matrix to identify areas of similarity and dissonance. This process revealed a high degree of similarity in the themes identified between the datasets.

NARRATIVES OF HOME AND PLACE AMONG OLDER TURKISH ADULTS

Thematic analysis of the data identified three interrelated themes which were critical to the narratives of participants: “Home as a reflection of identity and self”, “Home as a meeting place” and “Transnationality, mobility and home”.

Home as a Reflection of Identity and Self

All participants identified the home as central to perceived quality of life in old age. For many, the home was symbolized as a place of security and safety, particularly for those who did not feel a broader sense of belonging and connection to the wider neighborhood. In addition, the home symbolized a sense of freedom, an opportunity to create their own forms of independence and autonomy, and were fundamental to development of the ‘self-in-place’:

…I have my own house and freedom. It is enough for me. (Female, 81 years old, living alone, Individual interview)

These notions of freedom were linked to environmental adaptation and agency in terms of being able to shape the home environment. The perceived ability to change the interior and in some cases the exterior design of a house based on one’s personal preferences and cultural beliefs was regarded as an important factor in developing a sense of attachment to home and making the place a desirable environment to age:

I live on the ground floor. I have my own garden…I did a nice landscape in a part that belongs to me, despite council’s dissatisfaction. It is very good. I am quite satisfied with the place that I am living. In the beginning, council opposed a bit. I had planted fruit trees. First, they said that I should not do it, then…They allowed me…. (Male, 23 years in London, Community mapping workshop 3)

The quote above also alludes to the symbolic meaning that landscape and green space has for older Turkish adults, and how trees and plants specific to their homeland support connections to home. In one of the community mapping workshops, a participant discussed the shared love for nature, soil and gardening among Alevi older adults, reflecting on its importance in the rituals and religious beliefs around home:

We like nature because of our religious beliefs. It originates from the relationship between nature, God and the human being. The main philosophy of Alevism is this. For this reason, we as Alevi people like nature very much… (Male, 18 years in London, Community mapping workshop 5)

Decorating the home with objects carrying cultural associations and memories such as Quran verses, cultural artefacts, Turkish rugs and photos of loved ones including family were some of the ways participants imbued the home with a sense of connection. Media was also a key agent in maintaining a sense of home and identity, for example access to Turkish television reconnected people to national and cultural values, and were fundamental to a sense of wellbeing:

When I first came here … They (local council) did not allow us to watch Turkish TV. They came and collected our antenna. We passed so many stressful days here. My husband tried to install the antenna again secretly, but they again collected it. They said that our antennas are ruining their TV, internet, they said like this… (Female, 63 years old, 20 years in London, Individual interview)

Those participants who were social or private renters reported having less agency and power in undertaking housing repairs, home modifications or changing the style of their house to reflect their personality and culture. For example, some pointed to the different housing layout and organization as a factor impacting their sense of home:

I do not like its bathroom at all because it has a different style. It does not have a shower. We asked them (the council) to change it, but they did not do. (Female, 62 years old, 15 years in London, Individual interview)

In addition, those participants living in socially or privately rented accommodation complained about physical barriers at home such as stairs which actively impeded healthy aging, a lack of place maintenance especially in privately rented dwellings which impacted on levels of pride in the home and an overall lack of power in making physical adaptations to the home due to their lack of English language skills, resistance from landlords and other institutional barriers. This created a tension and frustration for many participants, of wanting to stay at home and in the community yet not being able to make a supportive environment to enable aging in place:

… I spent a lot on my house. I do not want to leave it. I am used to my area. It is close to everywhere. Just the problems inside my house annoys me… They sent me mail saying that I can move to a sheltered housing. I can never live there. I cannot move anywhere. It is for 27 years that I have been living there… (Female, 57 years old, 35 years in London, Community mapping workshop 4)

Home as a Social and Cultural Place

For the majority of older Turkish adults, home comprised a social and cultural function by facilitating social contacts with family, friends and neighbours, and as a space for maintaining religious and cultural traditions. This was especially the case for female members of the community who tended to spend the majority of their time at home, unlike men who tended to congregate in third places in the neighborhood such as a Kahve³ or mosque. This can be attributed to the cultural and religious beliefs of the community where spatial practices and cultured gendered norms around home and community were formed from an early age:

…I only go outside, whenever it is necessary. May be once a month for shopping or being visited by a doctor. When I was a young girl, my family taught me to go to school and return straight to home, without looking at my surroundings and hanging out with people. When I got married and became a mother, I only went outside to take my children to school or bring them back home. (Female, 82 years old, 26 years in London, Individual interview)

For many females, the home was a social space, reflecting the importance of family gatherings in the lives of older Turkish people. This was reflected through linking positive associations of home as a social space with improved happiness and wellbeing:

I am a happy person. My house is never empty. All the time I have guests… (Female, 55 years old, 25 years in London, Individual interview)

For others, the home symobolised strong intergenerational associations of place and were a contact zone through which to maintain ties with younger family members (Kaplan et al., 2020). Being visited by children and close relatives at home and eating a meal together was the primary form of socialization for older female Turkish adults. As the quote below indicates, architectural features of a house such as balconies were identified to be important in facilitating those intergenerational get-togethers:

…My house has a balcony. My brother’s family sometimes come and we barbecue there…. (Female,77 years old, 26 years in London, Individual interview)

Besides family members and close relatives, neighbourly relations were an important part of older Turkish adults’ social lives. For many participants, the notion of neighbourliness and sense of place was created through visiting each other’s homes:

We as Turkish people visit each other’s house…We have a very close relationship with each other…” (Female, 60 years old, 28 years in London, Individual interview)

Traditional Turkish houses were designed based on two important elements of Turkish people’s social life, that of family and neighbours. Here, the most important room of the house was allocated to guests or visitors, reflecting the importance of social contacts in traditional Turkish culture (Turkan 2016). To many participants, ideas of home were bound up in the ability of the physical space to host and celebrate events such as birthday parties, funerals and religious ceremonies:

Houses are very small here. In Turkey, we had big living rooms in our houses that made us able to hold ceremonies at home. But here in my current home, there is hardly space for my table. It is a big problem that we have here. We have to invite less people to our ceremonies, or everybody sits near to each other uncomfortably. When we meet for our religious ceremonies, some of us can pray, but others have to wait because of lack of space. (Female, Founder of a private association, 54 years old, 14 years in London)

Transnationality, Mobility and Home

All participants reflected on the different ways they maintained contact with the Turkish community, such as staying in contact with their family and friends in Turkey, travelling to Turkey, watching Turkish TV, eating Turkish food and attending Turkish events to preserve their identity. Transnationality was an important aspect of everyday life in the UK for the Turkish community, influencing all dimensions of their life. Many maintained those ties to home and community through travelling regularly back to their homeland, except for those with limiting health conditions in old age. Going to Turkey played a crucial role in participants’ psychological wellbeing, providing a time to reengage with a sense of community and to restore cultural connections:

We have to accept that we are living in a very different community, unfortunately. But on the other hand, you do not want to lose your culture totally. Because of this, you have to travel to Turkey frequently like me. I travel two times in a year to Turkey and each time stay for at least 3-weeks… (Female, 48 years old, 17 years in London, Individual interview)

Visiting the Turkish associations and attending Turkish events also enabled people to retain a sense of cultural identity. In some cases, participants were born and raised in the UK, but they did not feel solely British. Although their British identity was important for them, coming to the association and meeting Turkish friends was a way of rediscovering or preserving their Turkish identity-in-place:

I think the cultural support that Turkish people are receiving in this neighborhood is not sufficient…There are some events for non-Turkish older adults but I do not participate in them…they are not attractive to me…I come at least once a week here (association) to meet my friends … (Female, 55 years old, born in London, Individual interview)

The majority of participants talked about their dual sense of belonging to both Turkey and the UK. Participants’ material and emotional belonging was experienced in both countries. Most participants had a house in their hometown and relatives and family members back home; however, their children and grandchildren were often living in the UK and they recognized the importance of state and institutional supports in the UK in old age. Almost all participants could not decide between Turkey and the UK as a destination to grow old and were willing to continue their current lifestyle of travelling back and forth in their old age. In this sense, older people experienced a sense of ‘in betweenness’ in relation to home and place, reflecting on issues of dependency (to government and state), ties to house and home, and family connections:

In fact, we are in between these two places… If we decide to go there forever, our children are here, so we have to return here. We are dependent on the government here; we have a house here. If we do not go back there (Turkey), we are not going to get a satisfactory old age here, in my opinion. (Female, 55 years old, 16 years in London, Individual interview)

I do not like the lifestyle here… It is a system that I am not familiar with…for returning to Turkey I am trying to save money. If I can earn this money, I will return to Turkey. But not stay there forever. I want to spend half of the year here and the other half in Turkey. (Male, 53 years old, 20 years in London, Individual interview)

As the last quote indicates, participants’ financial security was an important factor facilitating or hindering their ability to support transnational identities in old age. Some participants living in socially rented accommodation in the UK expressed concerns about new regulations introduced by the UK government restricting the amount of time that they could spend in Turkey:

When I go to Turkey, I stay there for 3-4 months. But I have heard that a new rule has been added that says we will not be able to stay in Turkey more than a month. Since I am living in council housing, they say that you go and stay in Turkey for months, but we have to pay the rent. (Male, 75 years old, 27 years in London, Individual interview)

DISCUSSION: TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOME AND AGING IN PLACE FOR OLDER TURKISH ADULTS

The findings of this research highlight the multi-dimensional and multifaceted aspects of home facilitating or constraining opportunities for aging in place among ethnic minority older adults (Cloutier-Fisher and Harvey 2009; Dahlin-Ivanoff et al. 2007; Oswald and Wahl 2005). In building on studies that have largely focused on “meaning of home” among non-migrant older adults (e.g. Bigonnesse, et al. 2014; Board and McCormack 2018; Hatcher et al. 2019; Sixsmith et al. 2014), this study was concerned with “home-making” strategies adopted by a group of migrant older adults. We focused on the experiences of former labour migrants in the UK who had less agency and choice in choosing a place to age in, compared to lifestyle migrants (Buffel 2017).

Influenced by previous associations of home in Turkish culture, participants within our research attached significant meaning to their home through the opportunities it afforded for maintaining social and familial relationships. For many participants, home was not only a personal space or a shelter separating them from the outside world, but as a social space connecting them with family members, neighbours, friends and relatives (Turkan 2016). This point is supported by previous research studying the home making practices of older Antillean migrants in the Netherlands which identified maintaining relations with significant others especially children as one of the two main strategies adopted by the community to make a sense of home in a foreign land, the other being furnishing the home with significant objects brought from their home country (Meijering and Lager, 2014). The latter point was reflected in older Turkish adults’ material home-making efforts (Peace, 2006, 2022), such as decorating the house with objects to symbolise their homeland, maintaining a sense of cultural connectivity and ‘at oneness’ via gardening (Mazumdar and Mazumdar, 2012), and reconfiguring the space of the home based on Turkish values and traditions (Erdoğan 2017; Turkan 2016).

Housing tenure and ownership status as well as the financial capacity of participants to make desired physical modifications inside the house were identified as important factors determining older Turkish adults’ sense of connection to home in our research and which has been identified as important in other studies (Means 2007; Powell et al. 2017). It should be noted that participants’ home-making aspirations were not only limited to cultural, religious and ethnic practices. With advanced age other aspects of housing such as being able to continue to undertake daily tasks inside the house gained increasing importance. For example, some participants felt required to make a choice between living in a house they felt emotionally connected to but which no longer supported their mobility and physical capacities (Penney 2013).

Supporting previous research with older Turkish migrants in Brussels, our findings indicate that the home-making practices of the older Turkish community in the UK is highly gendered, women attaching more significance to the interior space of the home and men to community communal resources in the neighborhood including mosques and kahves (Buffel 2017). Our findings also suggest home as an engendered space with specific practices such as growing ethnic plants for men and preparing and sharing ethnic food with family and friends for women. Conceptualizing home as a cultural and social place was more evident in female interviewees’ accounts including interior design and decoration and social practices such as holding religious and traditional ceremonies at home whereas for men home-making practices focused on the exterior environment of the home including the garden and wider participation in the communal resources of the neighborhood. This can be attributed to the cultural codes of the community and gender division of space that research has suggested can be deeply engrained in spatial behaviors and practices across the lifecourse (Fenster 2005a, 2005b).

International mobility emerged as an important part of the experience of home and home-making strategies adopted by participants. Findings of this research illustrate older Turkish adults’ continuous efforts to create an identity for themselves in the UK while trying to maintain connection with their homeland. Similarly, Johansson et al. (2013) argue that older persons with experiences of migration continuously negotiate relationships to multiple places that makes it necessary to incorporate a dynamic conceptualization of place in the study of aging among migrant older adults. Transnational identities were an important part of the aging in place experiences for older Turkish adults. However, unlike highly mobile lifestyle migrants for whom international mobility is an expression of autonomy and independence (McHugh and Mings 1996, Hayes 2021), for participants in this research the notion of ‘in betweeness’ and geographic dispersion of their social and material resources between Turkey and the UK was common (Baykara-Krumme 2013; Bilecen, 2017; Kunuroglu et al. 2018).

The ability to maintain transnational forms of attachment in old age was in some ways contingent on the availability of resources including financial security, perceived physical health, and quality and availability of social networks (Bolzman et al. 2006; Fokkema, et al. 2015). Not all participants in this research had sufficient financial and social capital to maintain a transnational lifestyle. In the absence of physical mobility, alternative transnational home-making practices such as virtual connections with social networks in their homeland using technology (non-bodily international mobility), connection to nature, maintaining relationship with family, friends and relatives living close by and visiting cultural community spaces gained importance for preserving one’s transnational habitus (Ehrkamp 2005; Zechner, 2017).

IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE

The implications of the research point to the adoption of policies and practices that focus on the aging-in-place experiences of migrant groups, fundamental to which is the centralization of home-making practices in support of sense of place in old age. Having the freedom and autonomy to develop and adapt home spaces and environments offers opportunities for how we design flexible and lifelong home environments for migrants. This identifies the need to involve older migrant groups in the co-design of home settings which evolve around the requirements of the older person and which support a sense of identity for older people, as well as facilitating timely housing adaptations and granting more freedom in making desired changes in the interior design of home for older migrants living across different types of housing tenure.

Outside of the home, community hubs and spaces offer important environments for maintaining a sense of connection and attachment in old age. Whilst this type of activity was more common among our male participants, delivering inclusive age-friendly cultural spaces for migrants is critical to ensuring access to social support networks and opportunities for social participation.

The findings of the paper also showed variation in experiences among older Turkish migrants in London based on their gender and personal resources such as social networks, perceived physical health, financial status and housing tenure. This suggests the need to integrate a more holistic understanding of older adults’ resources and capacities in the design of aging-in-place policies and service delivery for older migrants which recognise diverse narratives, understandings and aspirations of aging among migrant groups.

Finally, identity in old age was often framed around transnational understandings of place among older people. Further work is needed to explore how transnational aspects of place can be sustained in old age for migrant groups, particularly for those who experience difficulties travelling to their homeland. The use of technology offers promising avenues here, including how social-technical interventions can support the maintenance of cultural connections.

LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

The authors point to some limitations with the study. Firstly, the majority of interviews took place in Turkish associations located in north London, due to the higher concentration of Turkish population in this area. Further work is needed to explore the experiences of older Turkish adults across metropolitan areas, levels of deprivation and income levels to ascertain how home, community and place is understood in relation to access to the material resources to age well. Secondly, our participants were predominantly active, well and living at home. Research needs to examine the diversity of experiences across diverse older adults and the challenges and barriers to maintaining home among frail older adults and those experiencing cognitive decline, to determine implications for home and place across diverse and often vulnerable or disadvantaged older migrant groups including older Turkish people. Third, we were unable to achieve a gender balance in participants due to higher rates of female presence in Turkish associations and the first author’s female gender, which imposed barriers to becoming accepted in places dominated by male members of the community.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback and all participants for sharing their stories and experiences.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melisa Yazdanpanahi

Melisa Yazdanpanahi is a researcher with a PhD in Urban Studies from Heriot-Watt University. Her doctoral research explored the experiences of healthy aging among ethnic minority older adults. With a multidisciplinary background, Melisa is committed to promoting healthy aging and wellbeing among diverse populations.

Ryan Woolrych

Ryan Woolrych is a Professor in Aging and Urban Studies and Director of the Urban Institute at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. His research interests include: aging-in-place, housing and home and equality and social justice. [email protected]

Notes

1 One of the participants in the semi-structured individual interviews was 48 years old at the time of data collection.

2 The data collection for this research was conducted pre-COVID-19 pandemic in 2017, therefore, analysis does not include the changing meaning of home during the pandemic.

3 Traditional style Turkish coffee shop

4 Two of the participants in the semi-structured individual interviews were born in London.

5 One participant was homeless at the time of the interview