More Than Aging in Place: “Aging in Networks” in Singapore

Abstract

Aging in place has become a popularly accepted logic and practice in both the academic and policy domains. Older adults’ preferred facilities and social networks, however, might not always be situated in the residential neighborhoods where their homes are located. While recognizing the value of aging in place, this article argues that geographical proximity should not be conflated with aging well, nor should a spatially delimited place be the only locus of “community.” We propose the concept of aging in networks to capture a range of social networks in the life-worlds of older adults, including those that extend beyond their neighborhoods. We combine qualitative and geographic information systems (GIS) methods (i.e., qualitative GIS) to analyze three types of activity spaces observed among older adults in Singapore. Our analysis elicits the reasons why older adults use facilities and cultivate social networks both within and beyond their neighborhoods. This approach highlights the importance of studying and supporting both the local and extralocal ties of older adults. The article draws on qualitative GIS research (interviews and Global Positioning System tracking) with fifty older adults in two neighborhoods in Singapore (from a wider survey with 1,199 older adults).