Older people living in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods

Key features and implications of civic engagement within the context of disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods have typically been overlooked in ageing research. Drawing on insights from a range of studies conducted on either the civic engagement of older people in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods or research engaging with theoretical debates on issues of the environment, the life course or exclusion, this chapter aims to provide a conceptual reflection of three detected gaps in the literature. First, environmental perspectives such as interactional, transactional and co-constitutional theorisations on place and contexts of ageing are explored. Second, life-course perspectives through life-course theory, cumulative disadvantage, intersectional life-course theory and life course of place are examined. Third, exclusion-based approaches including political economy, Lefebvre’s ‘the right to the city’ and spatial justice theory are considered. Afterwards, the intersections of the three different theoretical paradigms are discussed with regard to civic engagement in later life in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods. The principal aim is to inspire the rethinking of civic engagement in later life in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods from an intersection of viewpoints. The chapter concludes by identifying possible avenues for future research for the understanding of civic engagement in later life in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods.