Growing old healthily and happily in your own neighbourhood. How do you do that?

We asked people in Rotterdam what they feel they need in order to grow old healthily and happily in their neighbourhood. We heard various things: peace and quiet, greenery, safety, social contacts and good amenities kept coming back. 'We saw that in the research as well. What we found interesting is that older people sometimes value exactly the same things, but for very different reasons. Safety, for example, can be about a lack of nuisance, but also about having family nearby or feeling accepted and being able to be yourself in your neighbourhood,' Nieboer explains.

How do you design a neighbourhood in an age-friendly way?

Different people have different wishes. But what turns out to be the case? What older people consider important is partly determined by their background. Nieboer also takes this into account in her research.

'Older people without a migration background and Surinamese older people attach relatively great value to a green, clean and well-maintained neighbourhood, to safety and to social contacts. Moroccan older people place more emphasis on family, involvement in the neighbourhood and affordable housing,' she says. 'This means that you shouldn't design neighbourhoods for separate groups, but instead make room for different ways of growing old.'