Ryan Woolrych
Biographic Data
| ID | 129268 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ryan Woolrych |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ryan |
| FAMILY NAME | Woolrych |
| SIGNATURE | WOOLRYCH R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Heriot-Watt University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4310-8455 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 127 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Exploring Healthy Ageing in Place for Roma Communities: Insights from Knowledge Café Workshops in the UK
Healthy ageing is increasingly understood as a process shaped by intersecting structural, social and environmental conditions. Yet dominant frameworks often fail to account for how marginalisation and place-based exclusion are lived and navigated by structurally excluded groups. This is especially true for older Roma communities, who remain significantly overlooked in both research and policy on ageing. Drawing on qualitative data from Knowledge …
High streets, ageing and well-being
Despite their perceived decline, local high streets in the UK remain valuable central and well-connected places that can foster ageing in place, yet their potential to sustain well-being in old age has been overlooked. Using qualitative methods, the paper explores what features of local high streets support older people's wellbeing in three local town centres in Edinburgh, Scotland. The findings show there are three main domains of local high str…
Situating Place and Wellbeing Within Heritage Interactions for Older Adults
As the global population ages, more older adults are engaging with the historic environment than ever before. However, the needs of this population may not always be met by local and national heritage sites and organizations. Here, eight professionals working in the UK heritage, health and well-being and aging sectors were interviewed to gather their views on how older adults interact with the historic environment. Three key themes emerged from t…
Intergenerationality in the Context of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: Older People’s Experiences and Perspectives on Place and Community Living in the UK
Intergenerational communities can be understood as communities where multiple age groups interact, feel valued, and contribute to community life in an inclusive way. However, older adults in many communities in the UK can be excluded from intergenerational mixing. The PlaceAge project undertook interviews, photo-diaries, community mapping workshops, and knowledge cafés to explore older adult experiences of and participation in their cities and co…
Heritage, Memory and Well-Being: Exploring Uses and Perceptions of the Historic Environment Amongst Older Adults in Nottinghamshire
Leisure and the Sense of Place of Older Adults in Low-Income Communities in Brazil and the Uk
O lazer desempenha um papel fundamental no apoio ao bem-estar psicológico, social e emocional na velhice. Este artigo tem como objetivo explorar a relação entre lazer, lugar e renda a partir das perspectivas de idosos no Reino Unido e no Brasil e como a participação dos idosos no lazer apoia o desenvolvimento do senso de lugar dentro de suas comunidades. Os dados apresentados no artigo foram coletados por meio de uma abordagem de estudo de caso e…
Co-creating inclusive spaces and places: Towards an intergenerational and age-friendly living ecosystem
Introduction: Evolving aging societies, ongoing digitalisation and circumstances of COVID-19 are changing living conditions for growing older. There is an increased urgency to view public health with a focus on integrating people of all ages into the matrix of opportunities afforded in their communities. This study initiates the conceptualization of an intergenerational, age-friendly living ecosystem (AFLE) to enhance public health planning. Meth…
Making Sense of Home Among Ethnic Minority Older Adults: Experiences of Aging in Place Among the Turkish Community in London
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 works…
You really do become invisible’: Examining older adults’ right to the city in the United Kingdom
A global ageing population presents opportunities and challenges to designing urban environments that support ageing in place. The World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities movement has identified the need to develop communities that optimise health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Ensuring that age-friendly urban environments create the conditions for active ageing requires cities and co…
A salutogenic urban design framework: The case of UK local high streets and older people
The article provides a novel look at the links between salutogenesis, health promotion, and urban design supported by the findings of recent research on local high streets and their benefits for the well-being of older people. Salutogenesis and the related explanatory concept of sense of coherence (SOC) have provided a theoretical framework for developing healthy settings interventions, shifting the focus from exploring barriers and deficits to a…
Leisure and the Sense of Place of Older Adults in Low-Income Communities in Brazil and the Uk
Leisure plays a key role in supporting psychological, social and emotional well-being in later life. This paper aims to explore the relationship between leisure, place and income from the perspectives of older adults in the UK and Brazil and how older adults’ participation in leisure supports the development of sense of place within their communities. The data presented in the paper was gathered through a case study approach involving three citie…
Neighborhood environment, healthy aging, and social participation among ethnic minority adults over 50: The case of the Turkish-Speaking community in London
Social participation has been recognized as an important component of healthy aging. At the same time, research has identified the central role of the neighborhood environment in determining healthy aging and social participation in old age. However, there is a paucity of research exploring the everyday lives of adults over 50 from ethnic minority backgrounds in relation to social participation and place. This paper focuses on the experiences of …
Experiences of Older People and Social Inclusion in Relation to Smart “Age-Friendly” Cities: A Case Study of Chongqing, China
Whilst cities can be sites of creativity, innovation, and change, they can also reproduce the conditions for the exclusion of vulnerable groups. Older people report experiencing specific barriers to accessing the city and are often excluded from the resources for ageing well. The smart city agenda has attempted to bring about technological change whilst also delivering improved quality of life for urban citizens. Smart technologies are a key elem…
Constructing and negotiating social participation in old age: Experiences of older adults living in urban environments in the United Kingdom
The age-friendly cities and communities movement has focused on how to better support older adults to age well within urban environments. Central to ‘ageing well’ and ‘active ageing’ agendas is ensuring that older adults can participate in meaningful forms of social participation. The benefits of social participation in old age have been well documented, and research amongst community-dwelling older adults has explored some of the neighbourhood q…
Ageing in an Unequal World: Implications for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFC) agenda has become a key policy driver for delivering urban environments that support older people to age in place. The movement has led to positive interventions at a city and community level alongside evidence of effective partnership working. Despite this, there are challenges in terms of how best to address widening societal inequalities in old age, where access to t…
Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods: Exploring Place Insideness Amongst Older Adults in India, Brazil and the United Kingdom
The ageing in place agenda emphasises the importance of supporting older adults to age in their communities surrounded by the personal resources to age well. In exploring the relationship between older people and their environment, the concept of place insideness is seen as central to constructing feelings of identity, belonging and attachment in old age. Yet there has been little research exploring how older adults experience place insideness ac…
Neighbourhood Supports for Active Ageing in Urban India
Developing urban environments that promote healthy, active living for older adults is at the forefront of global planning policy debates, resulting in concepts and design guidelines to support population ageing. However, current urban planning in India is overlooking the design of age-friendly cities. The share of older adults in India is estimated to increase from 8 per cent in 2015 to 20 per cent in 2050. This demographic shift towards a higher…
Housing and Ageing: Let’s Get Serious—“How Do You Plan for the Future while Addressing Immediate Chaos?”
This article presents findings from the Housing and Ageing programme conducted in 2018 that investigated how the housing sector can effectively plan for an ageing population. The project took a transdisciplinary approach to focus on new, critical insights into the process of decision making concerning housing and ageing across Scotland, England and Wales. A ‘Serious Game’ methodology was developed that explored over 200 policy maker, practitioner…
Perceptions of home in long-term care settings: Before and after institutional relocation
Although moving from institutional to home-like long-term care (LTC) settings can promote and sustain the health and wellbeing of older adults, there has been little research examining how home is perceived by older adults when moving between care settings. A qualitative study was conducted over a two-year period during the relocation of residents and staff from an institutional LTC home to a purpose-built LTC home in Western Canada. The study ex…
From Familiar Faces to Family: Staff and Resident Relationships in Long-Term Care
The study provides evidence to inform current policies and practices in LTC. Specifically, enough time and space should be given to residents and staff to create and maintain personal relationships to make residential care homelike
Place-making with older persons: Establishing sense-of-place through participatory community mapping workshops
The power(s) of observation: Theoretical perspectives on surveillance technologies and older people
There is a long history of surveillance of older adults in institutional settings and it is becoming an increasingly common feature of modern society. New surveillance technologies that include activity monitoring, and ubiquitous computing, which are described as ambient assisted living (AAL), are being developed to provide unobtrusive monitoring and support of activities of daily living and to extend the quality and length of time older people c…
Healthy ageing and home: The perspectives of very old people in five European countries
Gambling and debt: The Hidden Impacts on Family and Work Life
This paper discusses the key findings from the first qualitative study focused on understanding the impacts of gambling-related debt on the family and work life of problem gamblers. The paper illustrates how current research priorities marginalise the social impacts of gambling on families and communities and suggests ways in which researchers and practitioners can address the issues and impacts of gambling-related debt on individuals, families a…
Healthy ageing and home: The perspectives of very old people in five European countries
Place-making with older persons: Establishing sense-of-place through participatory community mapping workshops
The power(s) of observation: Theoretical perspectives on surveillance technologies and older people
There is a long history of surveillance of older adults in institutional settings and it is becoming an increasingly common feature of modern society. New surveillance technologies that include activity monitoring, and ubiquitous computing, which are described as ambient assisted living (AAL), are being developed to provide unobtrusive monitoring and support of activities of daily living and to extend the quality and length of time older people c…
Gambling and debt: The Hidden Impacts on Family and Work Life
This paper discusses the key findings from the first qualitative study focused on understanding the impacts of gambling-related debt on the family and work life of problem gamblers. The paper illustrates how current research priorities marginalise the social impacts of gambling on families and communities and suggests ways in which researchers and practitioners can address the issues and impacts of gambling-related debt on individuals, families a…
Constructing and negotiating social participation in old age: Experiences of older adults living in urban environments in the United Kingdom
The age-friendly cities and communities movement has focused on how to better support older adults to age well within urban environments. Central to ‘ageing well’ and ‘active ageing’ agendas is ensuring that older adults can participate in meaningful forms of social participation. The benefits of social participation in old age have been well documented, and research amongst community-dwelling older adults has explored some of the neighbourhood q…
From Familiar Faces to Family: Staff and Resident Relationships in Long-Term Care
The study provides evidence to inform current policies and practices in LTC. Specifically, enough time and space should be given to residents and staff to create and maintain personal relationships to make residential care homelike
You really do become invisible’: Examining older adults’ right to the city in the United Kingdom
A global ageing population presents opportunities and challenges to designing urban environments that support ageing in place. The World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities movement has identified the need to develop communities that optimise health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Ensuring that age-friendly urban environments create the conditions for active ageing requires cities and co…
Perceptions of home in long-term care settings: Before and after institutional relocation
Although moving from institutional to home-like long-term care (LTC) settings can promote and sustain the health and wellbeing of older adults, there has been little research examining how home is perceived by older adults when moving between care settings. A qualitative study was conducted over a two-year period during the relocation of residents and staff from an institutional LTC home to a purpose-built LTC home in Western Canada. The study ex…
Neighborhood environment, healthy aging, and social participation among ethnic minority adults over 50: The case of the Turkish-Speaking community in London
Social participation has been recognized as an important component of healthy aging. At the same time, research has identified the central role of the neighborhood environment in determining healthy aging and social participation in old age. However, there is a paucity of research exploring the everyday lives of adults over 50 from ethnic minority backgrounds in relation to social participation and place. This paper focuses on the experiences of …
Housing and Ageing: Let’s Get Serious—“How Do You Plan for the Future while Addressing Immediate Chaos?”
This article presents findings from the Housing and Ageing programme conducted in 2018 that investigated how the housing sector can effectively plan for an ageing population. The project took a transdisciplinary approach to focus on new, critical insights into the process of decision making concerning housing and ageing across Scotland, England and Wales. A ‘Serious Game’ methodology was developed that explored over 200 policy maker, practitioner…
Heritage, Memory and Well-Being: Exploring Uses and Perceptions of the Historic Environment Amongst Older Adults in Nottinghamshire
Intergenerationality in the Context of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: Older People’s Experiences and Perspectives on Place and Community Living in the UK
Intergenerational communities can be understood as communities where multiple age groups interact, feel valued, and contribute to community life in an inclusive way. However, older adults in many communities in the UK can be excluded from intergenerational mixing. The PlaceAge project undertook interviews, photo-diaries, community mapping workshops, and knowledge cafés to explore older adult experiences of and participation in their cities and co…
Making Sense of Home Among Ethnic Minority Older Adults: Experiences of Aging in Place Among the Turkish Community in London
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 works…
Gambling and debt: The Hidden Impacts on Family and Work Life
This paper discusses the key findings from the first qualitative study focused on understanding the impacts of gambling-related debt on the family and work life of problem gamblers. The paper illustrates how current research priorities marginalise the social impacts of gambling on families and communities and suggests ways in which researchers and practitioners can address the issues and impacts of gambling-related debt on individuals, families a…
Healthy ageing and home: The perspectives of very old people in five European countries
The power(s) of observation: Theoretical perspectives on surveillance technologies and older people
There is a long history of surveillance of older adults in institutional settings and it is becoming an increasingly common feature of modern society. New surveillance technologies that include activity monitoring, and ubiquitous computing, which are described as ambient assisted living (AAL), are being developed to provide unobtrusive monitoring and support of activities of daily living and to extend the quality and length of time older people c…
From Familiar Faces to Family: Staff and Resident Relationships in Long-Term Care
The study provides evidence to inform current policies and practices in LTC. Specifically, enough time and space should be given to residents and staff to create and maintain personal relationships to make residential care homelike
Place-making with older persons: Establishing sense-of-place through participatory community mapping workshops
Ageing in an Unequal World: Implications for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFC) agenda has become a key policy driver for delivering urban environments that support older people to age in place. The movement has led to positive interventions at a city and community level alongside evidence of effective partnership working. Despite this, there are challenges in terms of how best to address widening societal inequalities in old age, where access to t…
Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods: Exploring Place Insideness Amongst Older Adults in India, Brazil and the United Kingdom
The ageing in place agenda emphasises the importance of supporting older adults to age in their communities surrounded by the personal resources to age well. In exploring the relationship between older people and their environment, the concept of place insideness is seen as central to constructing feelings of identity, belonging and attachment in old age. Yet there has been little research exploring how older adults experience place insideness ac…
Neighbourhood Supports for Active Ageing in Urban India
Developing urban environments that promote healthy, active living for older adults is at the forefront of global planning policy debates, resulting in concepts and design guidelines to support population ageing. However, current urban planning in India is overlooking the design of age-friendly cities. The share of older adults in India is estimated to increase from 8 per cent in 2015 to 20 per cent in 2050. This demographic shift towards a higher…
Housing and Ageing: Let’s Get Serious—“How Do You Plan for the Future while Addressing Immediate Chaos?”
This article presents findings from the Housing and Ageing programme conducted in 2018 that investigated how the housing sector can effectively plan for an ageing population. The project took a transdisciplinary approach to focus on new, critical insights into the process of decision making concerning housing and ageing across Scotland, England and Wales. A ‘Serious Game’ methodology was developed that explored over 200 policy maker, practitioner…
Perceptions of home in long-term care settings: Before and after institutional relocation
Although moving from institutional to home-like long-term care (LTC) settings can promote and sustain the health and wellbeing of older adults, there has been little research examining how home is perceived by older adults when moving between care settings. A qualitative study was conducted over a two-year period during the relocation of residents and staff from an institutional LTC home to a purpose-built LTC home in Western Canada. The study ex…
Experiences of Older People and Social Inclusion in Relation to Smart “Age-Friendly” Cities: A Case Study of Chongqing, China
Whilst cities can be sites of creativity, innovation, and change, they can also reproduce the conditions for the exclusion of vulnerable groups. Older people report experiencing specific barriers to accessing the city and are often excluded from the resources for ageing well. The smart city agenda has attempted to bring about technological change whilst also delivering improved quality of life for urban citizens. Smart technologies are a key elem…
Constructing and negotiating social participation in old age: Experiences of older adults living in urban environments in the United Kingdom
The age-friendly cities and communities movement has focused on how to better support older adults to age well within urban environments. Central to ‘ageing well’ and ‘active ageing’ agendas is ensuring that older adults can participate in meaningful forms of social participation. The benefits of social participation in old age have been well documented, and research amongst community-dwelling older adults has explored some of the neighbourhood q…
A salutogenic urban design framework: The case of UK local high streets and older people
The article provides a novel look at the links between salutogenesis, health promotion, and urban design supported by the findings of recent research on local high streets and their benefits for the well-being of older people. Salutogenesis and the related explanatory concept of sense of coherence (SOC) have provided a theoretical framework for developing healthy settings interventions, shifting the focus from exploring barriers and deficits to a…
Leisure and the Sense of Place of Older Adults in Low-Income Communities in Brazil and the Uk
Leisure plays a key role in supporting psychological, social and emotional well-being in later life. This paper aims to explore the relationship between leisure, place and income from the perspectives of older adults in the UK and Brazil and how older adults’ participation in leisure supports the development of sense of place within their communities. The data presented in the paper was gathered through a case study approach involving three citie…
Neighborhood environment, healthy aging, and social participation among ethnic minority adults over 50: The case of the Turkish-Speaking community in London
Social participation has been recognized as an important component of healthy aging. At the same time, research has identified the central role of the neighborhood environment in determining healthy aging and social participation in old age. However, there is a paucity of research exploring the everyday lives of adults over 50 from ethnic minority backgrounds in relation to social participation and place. This paper focuses on the experiences of …
Leisure and the Sense of Place of Older Adults in Low-Income Communities in Brazil and the Uk
O lazer desempenha um papel fundamental no apoio ao bem-estar psicológico, social e emocional na velhice. Este artigo tem como objetivo explorar a relação entre lazer, lugar e renda a partir das perspectivas de idosos no Reino Unido e no Brasil e como a participação dos idosos no lazer apoia o desenvolvimento do senso de lugar dentro de suas comunidades. Os dados apresentados no artigo foram coletados por meio de uma abordagem de estudo de caso e…
Co-creating inclusive spaces and places: Towards an intergenerational and age-friendly living ecosystem
Introduction: Evolving aging societies, ongoing digitalisation and circumstances of COVID-19 are changing living conditions for growing older. There is an increased urgency to view public health with a focus on integrating people of all ages into the matrix of opportunities afforded in their communities. This study initiates the conceptualization of an intergenerational, age-friendly living ecosystem (AFLE) to enhance public health planning. Meth…
Making Sense of Home Among Ethnic Minority Older Adults: Experiences of Aging in Place Among the Turkish Community in London
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 works…
You really do become invisible’: Examining older adults’ right to the city in the United Kingdom
A global ageing population presents opportunities and challenges to designing urban environments that support ageing in place. The World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities movement has identified the need to develop communities that optimise health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. Ensuring that age-friendly urban environments create the conditions for active ageing requires cities and co…
High streets, ageing and well-being
Despite their perceived decline, local high streets in the UK remain valuable central and well-connected places that can foster ageing in place, yet their potential to sustain well-being in old age has been overlooked. Using qualitative methods, the paper explores what features of local high streets support older people's wellbeing in three local town centres in Edinburgh, Scotland. The findings show there are three main domains of local high str…
Situating Place and Wellbeing Within Heritage Interactions for Older Adults
As the global population ages, more older adults are engaging with the historic environment than ever before. However, the needs of this population may not always be met by local and national heritage sites and organizations. Here, eight professionals working in the UK heritage, health and well-being and aging sectors were interviewed to gather their views on how older adults interact with the historic environment. Three key themes emerged from t…
Intergenerationality in the Context of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: Older People’s Experiences and Perspectives on Place and Community Living in the UK
Intergenerational communities can be understood as communities where multiple age groups interact, feel valued, and contribute to community life in an inclusive way. However, older adults in many communities in the UK can be excluded from intergenerational mixing. The PlaceAge project undertook interviews, photo-diaries, community mapping workshops, and knowledge cafés to explore older adult experiences of and participation in their cities and co…
Heritage, Memory and Well-Being: Exploring Uses and Perceptions of the Historic Environment Amongst Older Adults in Nottinghamshire
Exploring Healthy Ageing in Place for Roma Communities: Insights from Knowledge Café Workshops in the UK
Healthy ageing is increasingly understood as a process shaped by intersecting structural, social and environmental conditions. Yet dominant frameworks often fail to account for how marginalisation and place-based exclusion are lived and navigated by structurally excluded groups. This is especially true for older Roma communities, who remain significantly overlooked in both research and policy on ageing. Drawing on qualitative data from Knowledge …
Medicine (20 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Gerontology (18 works) · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies (16 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Social science (11 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (9 works) · Aging in place (8 works) · Older people (8 works) · Political science (8 works)