Towards a hyperlocal future of aging: Empowering marginalized seniors through community-based participatory research, engagement and co-creation

In collaboration with The Neighbourhood Organization (TNO), this project confronts the needs of racialized and underserved seniors in hyperlocal urban communities. Design (or redesign) of “age-friendly cities and communities” to help people to age-in-place often assumes that these challenges need to be addressed through population-level demographic, biomedical and technological research and innovations. This project critiques these assumptions, combining anthropology and design research to imagine solutions for the future of aging through direct collaboration with community health workers, activists and vulnerable seniors. Throughout, we will critically assess and reassess whether, how, and to what extent we are truly and measurably empowering a grassroots approach to codesigning new programs, policies, services and care environments in these unique urban contexts.