Age(ing) and Care in Communities and Institutions

The social organization of care is shaped by social networks of relationships and their embedding in the respective cultural, organizational, political, but also spatial and natural environments. The health opportunities and possibilities for mutual care that we experience in crisis situations, in old age, and in death depend to a large extent on how and where we live.

What do the local relationship and care networks look like? What socio-economic opportunities do people have? What images of age(ing) shape people's ideas about life in old age and dying? What knowledge (connection between education and health literacy) is there about the possibilities for help and care? What environmental stressors affect health and care conditions? What concepts of care and age(ing) are inscribed in the urban planning and architectural environments?

Our research on caring communities, caring spaces, public health and palliative care reflects these diverse interactions of an ecology of care in order to derive conclusions for the future of sustainable living and caring spaces.