Project

Green initiatives in cities for elderly with dementia and their caretakers

The aim of this research is to explore opportunities and constraints of urban green care facilities such as parks, gardens and farms.

Facilities for daily activities do not always meet the needs and abilities of people with dementia. Day spending at care farms turns out to be a facility that often appeals to both the people with dementia as their caretakers. Given these positive experiences, there is interest for comparable places in cities. These places increasingly occur in the form of city farmhouses, community gardens set up by local residents and residential homes who open up their gardens for dwelling elderly people in the neighbourhood. Little is still known about these initiatives.

Research questions at the heart of the project are therefore: What do green initiatives in the city look like? What do green initiatives mean for people with dementia, their caretakers and people in the neighbourhood? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these initiatives? What is necessary to develop good green initiatives for people with dementia and their caretakers and to get this funded?

To gain insight in the different types of green initiatives and the people who make use of it, questionnaires are conducted at initiators of the green initiatives. Besides, interviews are held with people with dementia, their caretakers and policy makers of municipalities to explore what green initiatives mean for the users and what the constraints and opportunities are. Finally, we set up a working group which will give advice on the execution of the study and an advisory group that helps to improve the green initiatives.