There are children in only one of the 106 apartments in Oddbjørn's (83) condominium association. 'Elder ghettos' are a gigantic social experiment, says a researcher

Oddbjørn Skredderberget (83) lives in a condominium in Kolbotn, which is a hub on the train line from Oslo to Ski, south of Oslo.

From his window he can look out onto a playground. But it is rarely used. Of the 106 apartments in the condominium, only one is inhabited by a family with children. This is also the case in the other condominiums in the area, says the 83-year-old.

“There are almost no families with children here,” he says. “Every time I hear children playing outside, I’m so happy. Then there is life again.”

“But it is only temporary, because they’re only grandchildren playing with their grandparents,” he says.

The price pushes young people out

The ageing population is growing, and a number of Norwegian municipalities are concerned. How will they be able to deliver good health and care services when in a few years they will have fewer people to look after a much larger number of elderly people?

People who are approaching retirement age and live in detached houses in sparsely built-up areas are encouraged to move to areas close to city centres.

This makes it more practical for the municipalities to reach everyone who wants to or has to stay at home longer.

Many municipalities are in the process of building senior apartments.

But new apartment complexes are constantly cropping up that are not initially intended just for seniors, yet which nevertheless become pure elder ghettos.

The Norwegian government's elder reform calls for ‘vibrant and age-friendly local communities that support activity, participation and meeting between generations’.

But when the construction of these local communities is left entirely to private actors, the price skyrockets. In that case, the elderly are primarily in the position to afford them and have a property to sell, and thus have the money to buy, say researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

Do local communities really come alive when most of the people who live there are nearing the end of their lives? This question was raised by these researchers at a recent seminar.

We know too little about the consequences

Researchers fear that ‘elder ghettos’ don’t provide a good quality of life for the elderly.

“This is a giant social experiment. We know too little about the consequences,” says researcher Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas at NMBU. She is a professor at the Department of Public Health Science.

NMBU is now starting research on precisely this development.

PhD research fellow Maria Kjellesvik will start interviewing elderly people who live in apartment complexes like these. She hopes to find out more about how residents experience living there, how they use the local area and whether they feel a sense of social belonging.

Home means a lot

“We know that social participation and social support are important in old age, because it counteracts isolation and loneliness. But it's not like people necessarily become friends even if they live in the same block,” Raanaas points out.

Theories about ageing point to the fact that the elderly are generally less involved in their surroundings and the society around them, she says.

What creates meaning for the elderly is often doing what they are used to doing.

“In surveys about quality of life in old age, housing comes up high among the elderly. For many, meaning is linked to keeping their home in order. The home is an important arena for identity and belonging,” Raanaas says.

In slippers to the liquor store and the pharmacy

When you move into an apartment, life becomes different.

Having to readjust so that you no longer have the opportunity to do what has previously been a large part of your life can in itself be challenging, say researchers.

If these new elder-focused residences primarily facilitate entertainment and culture, the question becomes what kind of opportunities the elderly have to engage in different and every day, meaningful activities, says Raanaas.

“To put it bluntly, do we want active ageing in society to mean you can walk in your slippers both to the liquor store and to the pharmacy? Or will the elderly simply be bored?,” she says.

Called Kolbotn the Old Town

In 2018, Oddbjørn Skredderberget helped start an elderly rebellion, when he renamed his postcode and place of residence from 1410 Kolbotn to ‘1410 Gamlebyen’, which translates as ‘The Old Town’.

“We thought it was time to think in a new way,” he says.

“We were a group of residents who had a number of meetings with the municipality. We raised several questions, including how the composition of Kolbotn’s population had changed,” he says.

Skredderberget didn’t feel like the politicians were so responsive back then. But after there was a political change in the municipality, there was some new thinking, he says.

“I think they probably understood things eventually. But nothing has happened to the composition of the population.”

Skredderberget believes that the age of the population primarily has something to do with the price of the homes.

“A 90 square meter apartment in this condominium association goes for between NOK 7 and NOK 8 million kroner (EUR 600,000 to 680,000). Many families with children have to look around for other options,” he says.

Lack of parking spaces

For those who are fit, there are plenty of opportunities to be social at Kolbotn, the 83-year-old says.

“What flourishes the most here is the café scene,” he says.

“On Tuesday there is a walking group, after which we meet at Espresso House. Wednesday is the senior academy, afterwards we go to a cafe and drink coffee and eat a little. On Saturday, some people meet at Baker Nordby,” he says.

He believes that the elderly in Kolbotn who are in good health lead good lives.

“We have everything we need here. It takes five to six minutes to go to the doctor and dentist. In that sense, it is very nice to live so close to the city centre,” he says.

Some become isolated

For those who are not so fit, it can be a problem that there are few parking spaces, Skredderberget says.

“The county municipality and central authorities mandate that new residential areas limit parking spaces. It is all well and good that you want to use your car. But that also has a downside,” he says.

“Many elderly people struggle with the fact that there are so few guest parking places here. At the same time, we know that spending time with other people is positive. But when your family cannot come to visit because they are not allowed to park their car, that really limits things.”

We have a plan

Cecilie Dahl-Jørgensen Pind is mayor of Nordre Follo municipality, where Kolbotn is located. At a seminar organized by NMBU, she said that she believes that more and more developers are becoming concerned with good local environments for everyone. Social sustainability, as the experts would say.

“It’s a challenge for us as a regulatory authority that we cannot make demands on projects that are not our own,” says Pind.

“We may want a mix in housing, but we cannot, for example, decide that a certain proportion should be rent-to-own. However, I find that more developers are much more concerned with social sustainability now than just three or four years ago,”  she adds.

In the last phase of the city centre development, Nordre Follo has placed greater emphasis on variety in housing types, she says.

“We have a plan. We plan to have a life for people other than the elderly in the same area and want to attract more families with children,” Pind says.

———

Translated by Nancy Bazilchuk

Read the Norwegian version of this article at forskning.no

Subscribe to our newsletter

The latest news from Science Norway, sent twice a week and completely free.

Sign up