Creating Age-Friendly Informal Settlements? Challenges to Enabling Health and Well-being for Older People in Informal Urban Harare

Abstract

Achieving Healthy Ageing and well-being for older people is a growing global concern. Healthy Ageing has significant implications for all sustainable development goals. An increasing number of older persons in the Global South are living in informal conditions, lacking basic infrastructure, and services. These conditions impose additional burdens on older people who, within households and communities, contribute to childcare provision and community leadership. While cities can be disabling and threatening regardless of age, the urban environment for older people can have increased impact on health and well-being, social participation, and urban citizenship. Employing two informal settlements in Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies, this chapter examines how older people live in informal settlements. It draws on semi-structured interviews with older residents in two informal settlements, and key informant interviews with local government officials, civil society representatives, academics, and urban practitioners. Findings suggest that the re-imagining of age-friendliness is necessary in order to move towards more sustainable and inclusive futures for older people living in informality.