Planning for an Ageing Population

The majority of local areas in the UK are faced with an ageing population. Popular retirement destinations in coastal and more rural areas are particularly affected. The thesis aims to find out how local areas strategically tackle these demographic shifts. The British government has issued strategic guidance for local areas, but as yet little is known about how actual responses look. The literature has largely focused on good practice compilations. Consequently, the thesis attempts to analyse in depth local areas’ experiences in planning for an ageing population. The main research question is: How do local actors in the UK plan for population ageing? A grounded theory approach has been chosen to develop theoretical concepts from empirical data. Local governance and collective learning are used as sensitising concepts, i.e. wider theoretical perspectives. Due to the state of research and the aim to gather detailed knowledge regarding the planning for an ageing population in local areas, a qualitative research design has been chosen. More precisely, it is a multiple case study design, covering the three heterogeneous cases North Tyneside, Poole and Wealden. Empirical data has been assembled from qualitative interviews with local experts and documents such as local strategies or minutes of meetings. The results are threefold. Firstly, local governance arrangements are analysed. This covers the identification of involved actors, their action orientations and interactions. As approaches in planning for an ageing population differ across organisations, a typology of individual actors is developed. Moreover, it is observed that and analysed how traditional hierarchical steering by public bodies is complemented by more network-like forms of governance, for example multi-organisational older people’s partnerships. Secondly, local learning processes in planning for an ageing population are reconstructed. Four phases are differentiated: setting the agenda for the topic of ageing and older people followed by building up knowledge on the subject and collective learning in a narrower sense and, finally, strategy-making. Interrelations between governance arrangements and collective learning are analysed, particularly with respect to different forms of learning in different types of older people’s partnerships. Finally, central challenges and perspectives arising from the analysis of governance arrangements and learning processes are discussed. On the one hand, these pertain to the cross-cutting nature of ageing, on the other hand they are due to the ambivalent influence from national government on local areas. Ageing affects various spheres of local steering activity. Among the main implications for local areas in the UK are the continuous search for responsibility and the struggle to broaden the agenda beyond health and care. This has led to experimenting with governance structures, intensifying involvement of older people and developing inter-agency older people strategies and others as catalysts for further development. The strong influence from central government on local steering advances local reactions to ageing but provokes superficial and unsustainable answers at the same time. Overall, the thesis provides in-depth empirical knowledge on local planning for an ageing population. The theoretical lenses local governance and collective learning have been used to generalise from the practical experiences in the three case study areas. The thesis concludes with recommendations for practitioners locally and at the national level. These refer inter alia to local governance arrangements which come up to the issue’s cross-cuttingness and to national guidance and regulation which could facilitate their introduction or modification.:Figures and tables.......................................................................................................11 List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................13 1 Introduction..........................................................................................................15 1.1 Rationale and aims of the research.............................................................15 1.2 Study design...............................................................................................18 1.3 Thesis structure...........................................................................................20 2 Planning for an ageing population – a UK-wide overview...................................23 2.1 The UK’s ageing population........................................................................23 2.2 Local governance and planning in transition................................................30 2.3 Reactions to ageing in the UK.....................................................................38 2.4 Questions raised.........................................................................................46 3 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................49 3.1 Local planning for an ageing population – linked to various research areas.............................................................................................49 3.2 Grounded theory perspective......................................................................53 3.3 Sensitising concepts....................................................................................55 3.3.1 Local governance..................................................................................56 3.3.2 Collective learning.................................................................................62 3.4 Presuppositions guiding the analysis............................................................67 4 Research design and methods..............................................................................71 4.1 Overall research design................................................................................71 4.2 Exploratory interviews – national level.........................................................74 4.3 Sampling procedures...................................................................................75 4.3.1 Sampling of case study areas.................................................................76 4.3.2 Sampling of interviewees.......................................................................79 4.4 Data collection............................................................................................81 4.5 Data analysis...............................................................................................83 5 The case study areas.............................................................................................89 5.1 North Tyneside............................................................................................90 5.1.1 North Tyneside in profile.......................................................................90 5.1.2 Planning for an ageing population in North Tyneside............................91 5.2 Poole...........................................................................................................94 5.2.1 Poole in profile......................................................................................94 5.2.2 Planning for an ageing population in Poole...........................................96 5.3 Wealden/East Sussex...................................................................................98 5.3.1 Wealden/East Sussex in profile..............................................................98 5.3.2 Planning for an ageing population in Wealden/East Sussex.................100 5.4 Summary and arising questions.................................................................103 6 Local governance and planning for an ageing population...................................105 6.1 The involved actors...................................................................................105 6.1.1 Actors belonging to the public sector..................................................106 6.1.2 Actors belonging to the private sector.................................................116 6.1.3 Actors belonging to the voluntary and community sector....................117 6.1.4 Connecting the sectors: The Local Strategic Partnership......................122 6.2 A typology of actors..................................................................................125 6.3 Governance arrangements: from working in silos to partnerships...............130 6.4 Summary...................................................................................................139 7 Local learning processes in planning for an ageing population..........................141 7.1 Setting the ageing agenda.........................................................................143 7.1.1 Awareness of the ageing population...................................................143 7.1.2 From awareness to action....................................................................146 7.2 Building up knowledge of ageing..............................................................149 7.2.1 Basing planning on (demographic) evidence.......................................149 7.2.2 Older people’s participation.................................................................155 7.2.3 Reacting to stimuli from national government.....................................158 7.3 Collective learning to plan for an ageing population..................................160 7.3.1 Collective learning in the local area.....................................................160 7.3.2 Learning in older people’s partnerships................................................164 7.4 Strategy-making for an ageing population.................................................171 7.4.1 Local strategies for dealing with population ageing.............................171 7.4.2 National trends reflected in local strategies..........................................178 7.4.3 The functions of strategies and strategy-making.................................187 7.5 Summary...................................................................................................191 8 Central challenges and perspectives in planning for an ageing population........193 8.1 The cross-cutting nature of ageing............................................................193 8.1.1 Searching for responsibility..................................................................194 8.1.2 Struggling to broaden the agenda.......................................................195 8.1.3 Experimenting with governance structures..........................................196 8.1.4 Involving older people.........................................................................197 8.1.5 Using strategies as catalysts................................................................198 8.2 Ambivalent influence from national government.......................................199 8.2.1 Influence via funding, instruments, targets and supervision.................200 8.2.2 Skipping the regional level..................................................................203 8.2.3 National government stimulating local areas to plan for an ageing population...............................................................................204 8.2.4 Local areas’ superficial reactions to national government influence......205 8.3 Regional and local challenges and perspectives..........................................207 9 Discussion of the results and implications..........................................................209 9.1 Summary of results....................................................................................209 9.2 Reflection of the results and the research design with respect to the state of research..............................................................................213 9.2.1 Discussion of the results......................................................................214 9.2.2 Discussion of the research design........................................................217 9.3 Open questions and need for further research...........................................219 9.4 Recommended action................................................................................221 9.5 Looking beyond the UK.............................................................................228 Literature..................................................................................................................231 Appendix..................................................................................................................251 A Interviewees and their positions..........................................................................251 B Exemplary e-mail to get into contact with potential interviewee and accompanying project outline..............................................................................252 C Interview guideline..............................................................................................254 D Transcription rules according to GAT 2 (modified)...............................................259Die Mehrzahl britischer Gemeinden ist mit einer alternden Bevölkerung konfrontiert. Küstengebiete und ländliche Räume sind besonders betroffen, da sie als Altersruhesitz bevorzugt werden. Ziel der Dissertation ist es, den strategischen Umgang der Gemeinden mit diesen demographischen Veränderungen zu beleuchten. Die britische Nationalregierung gibt den Gemeinden strategische Leitlinien vor, allerdings ist wenig darüber bekannt, wie die lokalen Ansätze tatsächlich aussehen. Bisher wurden vor allem Good Practice Sammlungen zum Thema veröffentlicht. Vor diesem Hintergrund beschäftigt sich die Dissertation detailliert mit der Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung in solchen Gemeinden, die in sich zwar mit der Bevölkerungsalterung beschäftigen, aber nicht als Good Practice klassifiziert werden können. Die Hauptforschungsfrage ist: Wie planen lokale Akteure für eine alternde Bevölkerung? Die Arbeit folgt einem Grounded Theory Ansatz, der darauf zielt, theoretische Konzepte aus den empirischen Daten zu entwickeln. Lokale Governance und kollektives Lernen dienen als sensibilisierende Konzepte, d.h. weitergefasste theoretische Perspektiven. Aufgrund des Forschungsstandes und des Ziels, detailliertes Wissen über die Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung zu gewinnen, folgt die Arbeit einem qualitativen Forschungsdesign. In den drei heterogenen Fallstudiengemeinden North Tyneside, Poole und Wealden wurden insbesondere qualitative Interviews mit lokalen Experten durchgeführt und Dokumente wie Strategiepapiere und Sitzungsprotokolle ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse umfassen drei Themenbereiche. Zunächst werden lokale Governanceformen analysiert, was die Identifikation der beteiligten Akteure, ihre Handlungsorientierungen und Interaktionen umfasst. Da Ansätze zum Umgang mit der alternden Bevölkerung sich stark zwischen individuellen Akteuren unterscheiden, wurde auf dieser Basis eine Akteurstypologie erstellt. Darüber hinaus wird analysiert wie traditionale Steuerungsansätze staatlicher Akteure durch netzwerkartige Governanceformen ergänzt werden. Bedeutendstes Beispiel sind Arbeitsgruppen, in denen Akteure verschiedener Organisationen und Sektoren zusammenkommen, um Ansätze zum Umgang mit Senioren und der Bevölkerungsalterung zu entwickeln. Anschließend werden lokale Lernprozesse in der Planung für eine alternde Bevölkerung rekonstruiert. Dabei werden vier Phasen unterschieden: Agenda-Setting, Wissensaufbau, kollektives Lernen im engeren Sinne und Strategieerstellung. Es werden die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Governanceformen und kollektivem Lernen analysiert, insbesondere bezüglich der Lernformen in verschiedenen Typen von Arbeitsgruppen. Schließlich werden Herausforderungen und Perspektiven der Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung diskutiert, die aus der Analyse von Governanceformen und Lernprozessen hervorgehen. Einerseits beziehen diese sich auf den Querschnittcharakter des Themas Alterung, andererseits auf den ambivalenten Einfluss der Nationalregierung. Die Alterung betrifft verschiedenste Bereiche lokaler Steuerung. Dies führt zu einer anhaltenden Suche nach lokalen Verantwortungsträgern und zu Schwierigkeiten, die Agenda über Gesundheit und Pflege Älterer hinaus zu erweitern. Darüber hinaus hat der Querschnittcharakter ein Experimentieren mit Governanceformen angeregt, sowie die Schaffung von mehr Partizipationsmöglichkeiten für ältere Bürger und die Erstellung ressortübergreifender lokaler Alterungsstrategien. Die starken Eingriffe der Nationalregierung in lokale Steuerungstätigkeiten befördern einerseits die Auseinandersetzung mit der Alterung, andererseits führen sie auch zu oberflächlichen und wenig nachhaltigen Reaktionen. Insgesamt bietet die Dissertation detailliertes empirisches Wissen zur Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung. Die theoretischen Perspektiven lokale Governance und kollektives Lernen wurden genutzt um generalisierbare Ergebnisse aus den Erfahrungen in den drei Fallstudiengemeinden zu gewinnen. Abschließend werden Handlungsempfehlungen für Praktiker auf der lokalen und nationalen Ebene abgeleitet.:Figures and tables.......................................................................................................11 List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................13 1 Introduction..........................................................................................................15 1.1 Rationale and aims of the research.............................................................15 1.2 Study design...............................................................................................18 1.3 Thesis structure...........................................................................................20 2 Planning for an ageing population – a UK-wide overview...................................23 2.1 The UK’s ageing population........................................................................23 2.2 Local governance and planning in transition................................................30 2.3 Reactions to ageing in the UK.....................................................................38 2.4 Questions raised.........................................................................................46 3 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................49 3.1 Local planning for an ageing population – linked to various research areas.............................................................................................49 3.2 Grounded theory perspective......................................................................53 3.3 Sensitising concepts....................................................................................55 3.3.1 Local governance..................................................................................56 3.3.2 Collective learning.................................................................................62 3.4 Presuppositions guiding the analysis............................................................67 4 Research design and methods..............................................................................71 4.1 Overall research design................................................................................71 4.2 Exploratory interviews – national level.........................................................74 4.3 Sampling procedures...................................................................................75 4.3.1 Sampling of case study areas.................................................................76 4.3.2 Sampling of interviewees.......................................................................79 4.4 Data collection............................................................................................81 4.5 Data analysis...............................................................................................83 5 The case study areas.............................................................................................89 5.1 North Tyneside............................................................................................90 5.1.1 North Tyneside in profile.......................................................................90 5.1.2 Planning for an ageing population in North Tyneside............................91 5.2 Poole...........................................................................................................94 5.2.1 Poole in profile......................................................................................94 5.2.2 Planning for an ageing population in Poole...........................................96 5.3 Wealden/East Sussex...................................................................................98 5.3.1 Wealden/East Sussex in profile..............................................................98 5.3.2 Planning for an ageing population in Wealden/East Sussex.................100 5.4 Summary and arising questions.................................................................103 6 Local governance and planning for an ageing population...................................105 6.1 The involved actors...................................................................................105 6.1.1 Actors belonging to the public sector..................................................106 6.1.2 Actors belonging to the private sector.................................................116 6.1.3 Actors belonging to the

Planning for an ageing population: experiences from local areas in the United Kingdom

The majority of local areas in the UK are faced with an ageing population. Popular retirement destinations in coastal and more rural areas are particularly affected. The thesis aims to find out how local areas strategically tackle these demographic shifts. The British government has issued strategic guidance for local areas, but as yet little is known about how actual responses look. The literature has largely focused on good practice compilations. Consequently, the thesis attempts to analyse in depth local areas’ experiences in planning for an ageing population. The main research question is: How do local actors in the UK plan for population ageing? A grounded theory approach has been chosen to develop theoretical concepts from empirical data. Local governance and collective learning are used as sensitising concepts, i.e. wider theoretical perspectives. Due to the state of research and the aim to gather detailed knowledge regarding the planning for an ageing population in local areas, a qualitative research design has been chosen. More precisely, it is a multiple case study design, covering the three heterogeneous cases North Tyneside, Poole and Wealden. Empirical data has been assembled from qualitative interviews with local experts and documents such as local strategies or minutes of meetings. The results are threefold. Firstly, local governance arrangements are analysed. This covers the identification of involved actors, their action orientations and interactions. As approaches in planning for an ageing population differ across organisations, a typology of individual actors is developed. Moreover, it is observed that and analysed how traditional hierarchical steering by public bodies is complemented by more network-like forms of governance, for example multi-organisational older people’s partnerships. Secondly, local learning processes in planning for an ageing population are reconstructed. Four phases are differentiated: setting the agenda for the topic of ageing and older people followed by building up knowledge on the subject and collective learning in a narrower sense and, finally, strategy-making. Interrelations between governance arrangements and collective learning are analysed, particularly with respect to different forms of learning in different types of older people’s partnerships. Finally, central challenges and perspectives arising from the analysis of governance arrangements and learning processes are discussed. On the one hand, these pertain to the cross-cutting nature of ageing, on the other hand they are due to the ambivalent influence from national government on local areas. Ageing affects various spheres of local steering activity. Among the main implications for local areas in the UK are the continuous search for responsibility and the struggle to broaden the agenda beyond health and care. This has led to experimenting with governance structures, intensifying involvement of older people and developing inter-agency older people strategies and others as catalysts for further development. The strong influence from central government on local steering advances local reactions to ageing but provokes superficial and unsustainable answers at the same time. Overall, the thesis provides in-depth empirical knowledge on local planning for an ageing population. The theoretical lenses local governance and collective learning have been used to generalise from the practical experiences in the three case study areas. The thesis concludes with recommendations for practitioners locally and at the national level. These refer inter alia to local governance arrangements which come up to the issue’s cross-cuttingness and to national guidance and regulation which could facilitate their introduction or modification

Planning for an Ageing Population

The majority of local areas in the UK are faced with an ageing population. Popular retirement destinations in coastal and more rural areas are particularly affected. The thesis aims to find out how local areas strategically tackle these demographic shifts. The British government has issued strategic guidance for local areas, but as yet little is known about how actual responses look. The literature has largely focused on good practice compilations. Consequently, the thesis attempts to analyse in depth local areas’ experiences in planning for an ageing population. The main research question is: How do local actors in the UK plan for population ageing? A grounded theory approach has been chosen to develop theoretical concepts from empirical data. Local governance and collective learning are used as sensitising concepts, i.e. wider theoretical perspectives. Due to the state of research and the aim to gather detailed knowledge regarding the planning for an ageing population in local areas, a qualitative research design has been chosen. More precisely, it is a multiple case study design, covering the three heterogeneous cases North Tyneside, Poole and Wealden. Empirical data has been assembled from qualitative interviews with local experts and documents such as local strategies or minutes of meetings. The results are threefold. Firstly, local governance arrangements are analysed. This covers the identification of involved actors, their action orientations and interactions. As approaches in planning for an ageing population differ across organisations, a typology of individual actors is developed. Moreover, it is observed that and analysed how traditional hierarchical steering by public bodies is complemented by more network-like forms of governance, for example multi-organisational older people’s partnerships. Secondly, local learning processes in planning for an ageing population are reconstructed. Four phases are differentiated: setting the agenda for the topic of ageing and older people followed by building up knowledge on the subject and collective learning in a narrower sense and, finally, strategy-making. Interrelations between governance arrangements and collective learning are analysed, particularly with respect to different forms of learning in different types of older people’s partnerships. Finally, central challenges and perspectives arising from the analysis of governance arrangements and learning processes are discussed. On the one hand, these pertain to the cross-cutting nature of ageing, on the other hand they are due to the ambivalent influence from national government on local areas. Ageing affects various spheres of local steering activity. Among the main implications for local areas in the UK are the continuous search for responsibility and the struggle to broaden the agenda beyond health and care. This has led to experimenting with governance structures, intensifying involvement of older people and developing inter-agency older people strategies and others as catalysts for further development. The strong influence from central government on local steering advances local reactions to ageing but provokes superficial and unsustainable answers at the same time. Overall, the thesis provides in-depth empirical knowledge on local planning for an ageing population. The theoretical lenses local governance and collective learning have been used to generalise from the practical experiences in the three case study areas. The thesis concludes with recommendations for practitioners locally and at the national level. These refer inter alia to local governance arrangements which come up to the issue’s cross-cuttingness and to national guidance and regulation which could facilitate their introduction or modification.:Figures and tables.......................................................................................................11 List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................13 1 Introduction..........................................................................................................15 1.1 Rationale and aims of the research.............................................................15 1.2 Study design...............................................................................................18 1.3 Thesis structure...........................................................................................20 2 Planning for an ageing population – a UK-wide overview...................................23 2.1 The UK’s ageing population........................................................................23 2.2 Local governance and planning in transition................................................30 2.3 Reactions to ageing in the UK.....................................................................38 2.4 Questions raised.........................................................................................46 3 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................49 3.1 Local planning for an ageing population – linked to various research areas.............................................................................................49 3.2 Grounded theory perspective......................................................................53 3.3 Sensitising concepts....................................................................................55 3.3.1 Local governance..................................................................................56 3.3.2 Collective learning.................................................................................62 3.4 Presuppositions guiding the analysis............................................................67 4 Research design and methods..............................................................................71 4.1 Overall research design................................................................................71 4.2 Exploratory interviews – national level.........................................................74 4.3 Sampling procedures...................................................................................75 4.3.1 Sampling of case study areas.................................................................76 4.3.2 Sampling of interviewees.......................................................................79 4.4 Data collection............................................................................................81 4.5 Data analysis...............................................................................................83 5 The case study areas.............................................................................................89 5.1 North Tyneside............................................................................................90 5.1.1 North Tyneside in profile.......................................................................90 5.1.2 Planning for an ageing population in North Tyneside............................91 5.2 Poole...........................................................................................................94 5.2.1 Poole in profile......................................................................................94 5.2.2 Planning for an ageing population in Poole...........................................96 5.3 Wealden/East Sussex...................................................................................98 5.3.1 Wealden/East Sussex in profile..............................................................98 5.3.2 Planning for an ageing population in Wealden/East Sussex.................100 5.4 Summary and arising questions.................................................................103 6 Local governance and planning for an ageing population...................................105 6.1 The involved actors...................................................................................105 6.1.1 Actors belonging to the public sector..................................................106 6.1.2 Actors belonging to the private sector.................................................116 6.1.3 Actors belonging to the voluntary and community sector....................117 6.1.4 Connecting the sectors: The Local Strategic Partnership......................122 6.2 A typology of actors..................................................................................125 6.3 Governance arrangements: from working in silos to partnerships...............130 6.4 Summary...................................................................................................139 7 Local learning processes in planning for an ageing population..........................141 7.1 Setting the ageing agenda.........................................................................143 7.1.1 Awareness of the ageing population...................................................143 7.1.2 From awareness to action....................................................................146 7.2 Building up knowledge of ageing..............................................................149 7.2.1 Basing planning on (demographic) evidence.......................................149 7.2.2 Older people’s participation.................................................................155 7.2.3 Reacting to stimuli from national government.....................................158 7.3 Collective learning to plan for an ageing population..................................160 7.3.1 Collective learning in the local area.....................................................160 7.3.2 Learning in older people’s partnerships................................................164 7.4 Strategy-making for an ageing population.................................................171 7.4.1 Local strategies for dealing with population ageing.............................171 7.4.2 National trends reflected in local strategies..........................................178 7.4.3 The functions of strategies and strategy-making.................................187 7.5 Summary...................................................................................................191 8 Central challenges and perspectives in planning for an ageing population........193 8.1 The cross-cutting nature of ageing............................................................193 8.1.1 Searching for responsibility..................................................................194 8.1.2 Struggling to broaden the agenda.......................................................195 8.1.3 Experimenting with governance structures..........................................196 8.1.4 Involving older people.........................................................................197 8.1.5 Using strategies as catalysts................................................................198 8.2 Ambivalent influence from national government.......................................199 8.2.1 Influence via funding, instruments, targets and supervision.................200 8.2.2 Skipping the regional level..................................................................203 8.2.3 National government stimulating local areas to plan for an ageing population...............................................................................204 8.2.4 Local areas’ superficial reactions to national government influence......205 8.3 Regional and local challenges and perspectives..........................................207 9 Discussion of the results and implications..........................................................209 9.1 Summary of results....................................................................................209 9.2 Reflection of the results and the research design with respect to the state of research..............................................................................213 9.2.1 Discussion of the results......................................................................214 9.2.2 Discussion of the research design........................................................217 9.3 Open questions and need for further research...........................................219 9.4 Recommended action................................................................................221 9.5 Looking beyond the UK.............................................................................228 Literature..................................................................................................................231 Appendix..................................................................................................................251 A Interviewees and their positions..........................................................................251 B Exemplary e-mail to get into contact with potential interviewee and accompanying project outline..............................................................................252 C Interview guideline..............................................................................................254 D Transcription rules according to GAT 2 (modified)...............................................259Die Mehrzahl britischer Gemeinden ist mit einer alternden Bevölkerung konfrontiert. Küstengebiete und ländliche Räume sind besonders betroffen, da sie als Altersruhesitz bevorzugt werden. Ziel der Dissertation ist es, den strategischen Umgang der Gemeinden mit diesen demographischen Veränderungen zu beleuchten. Die britische Nationalregierung gibt den Gemeinden strategische Leitlinien vor, allerdings ist wenig darüber bekannt, wie die lokalen Ansätze tatsächlich aussehen. Bisher wurden vor allem Good Practice Sammlungen zum Thema veröffentlicht. Vor diesem Hintergrund beschäftigt sich die Dissertation detailliert mit der Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung in solchen Gemeinden, die in sich zwar mit der Bevölkerungsalterung beschäftigen, aber nicht als Good Practice klassifiziert werden können. Die Hauptforschungsfrage ist: Wie planen lokale Akteure für eine alternde Bevölkerung? Die Arbeit folgt einem Grounded Theory Ansatz, der darauf zielt, theoretische Konzepte aus den empirischen Daten zu entwickeln. Lokale Governance und kollektives Lernen dienen als sensibilisierende Konzepte, d.h. weitergefasste theoretische Perspektiven. Aufgrund des Forschungsstandes und des Ziels, detailliertes Wissen über die Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung zu gewinnen, folgt die Arbeit einem qualitativen Forschungsdesign. In den drei heterogenen Fallstudiengemeinden North Tyneside, Poole und Wealden wurden insbesondere qualitative Interviews mit lokalen Experten durchgeführt und Dokumente wie Strategiepapiere und Sitzungsprotokolle ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse umfassen drei Themenbereiche. Zunächst werden lokale Governanceformen analysiert, was die Identifikation der beteiligten Akteure, ihre Handlungsorientierungen und Interaktionen umfasst. Da Ansätze zum Umgang mit der alternden Bevölkerung sich stark zwischen individuellen Akteuren unterscheiden, wurde auf dieser Basis eine Akteurstypologie erstellt. Darüber hinaus wird analysiert wie traditionale Steuerungsansätze staatlicher Akteure durch netzwerkartige Governanceformen ergänzt werden. Bedeutendstes Beispiel sind Arbeitsgruppen, in denen Akteure verschiedener Organisationen und Sektoren zusammenkommen, um Ansätze zum Umgang mit Senioren und der Bevölkerungsalterung zu entwickeln. Anschließend werden lokale Lernprozesse in der Planung für eine alternde Bevölkerung rekonstruiert. Dabei werden vier Phasen unterschieden: Agenda-Setting, Wissensaufbau, kollektives Lernen im engeren Sinne und Strategieerstellung. Es werden die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Governanceformen und kollektivem Lernen analysiert, insbesondere bezüglich der Lernformen in verschiedenen Typen von Arbeitsgruppen. Schließlich werden Herausforderungen und Perspektiven der Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung diskutiert, die aus der Analyse von Governanceformen und Lernprozessen hervorgehen. Einerseits beziehen diese sich auf den Querschnittcharakter des Themas Alterung, andererseits auf den ambivalenten Einfluss der Nationalregierung. Die Alterung betrifft verschiedenste Bereiche lokaler Steuerung. Dies führt zu einer anhaltenden Suche nach lokalen Verantwortungsträgern und zu Schwierigkeiten, die Agenda über Gesundheit und Pflege Älterer hinaus zu erweitern. Darüber hinaus hat der Querschnittcharakter ein Experimentieren mit Governanceformen angeregt, sowie die Schaffung von mehr Partizipationsmöglichkeiten für ältere Bürger und die Erstellung ressortübergreifender lokaler Alterungsstrategien. Die starken Eingriffe der Nationalregierung in lokale Steuerungstätigkeiten befördern einerseits die Auseinandersetzung mit der Alterung, andererseits führen sie auch zu oberflächlichen und wenig nachhaltigen Reaktionen. Insgesamt bietet die Dissertation detailliertes empirisches Wissen zur Stadtentwicklung für eine alternde Bevölkerung. Die theoretischen Perspektiven lokale Governance und kollektives Lernen wurden genutzt um generalisierbare Ergebnisse aus den Erfahrungen in den drei Fallstudiengemeinden zu gewinnen. Abschließend werden Handlungsempfehlungen für Praktiker auf der lokalen und nationalen Ebene abgeleitet.:Figures and tables.......................................................................................................11 List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................13 1 Introduction..........................................................................................................15 1.1 Rationale and aims of the research.............................................................15 1.2 Study design...............................................................................................18 1.3 Thesis structure...........................................................................................20 2 Planning for an ageing population – a UK-wide overview...................................23 2.1 The UK’s ageing population........................................................................23 2.2 Local governance and planning in transition................................................30 2.3 Reactions to ageing in the UK.....................................................................38 2.4 Questions raised.........................................................................................46 3 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................49 3.1 Local planning for an ageing population – linked to various research areas.............................................................................................49 3.2 Grounded theory perspective......................................................................53 3.3 Sensitising concepts....................................................................................55 3.3.1 Local governance..................................................................................56 3.3.2 Collective learning.................................................................................62 3.4 Presuppositions guiding the analysis............................................................67 4 Research design and methods..............................................................................71 4.1 Overall research design................................................................................71 4.2 Exploratory interviews – national level.........................................................74 4.3 Sampling procedures...................................................................................75 4.3.1 Sampling of case study areas.................................................................76 4.3.2 Sampling of interviewees.......................................................................79 4.4 Data collection............................................................................................81 4.5 Data analysis...............................................................................................83 5 The case study areas.............................................................................................89 5.1 North Tyneside............................................................................................90 5.1.1 North Tyneside in profile.......................................................................90 5.1.2 Planning for an ageing population in North Tyneside............................91 5.2 Poole...........................................................................................................94 5.2.1 Poole in profile......................................................................................94 5.2.2 Planning for an ageing population in Poole...........................................96 5.3 Wealden/East Sussex...................................................................................98 5.3.1 Wealden/East Sussex in profile..............................................................98 5.3.2 Planning for an ageing population in Wealden/East Sussex.................100 5.4 Summary and arising questions.................................................................103 6 Local governance and planning for an ageing population...................................105 6.1 The involved actors...................................................................................105 6.1.1 Actors belonging to the public sector..................................................106 6.1.2 Actors belonging to the private sector.................................................116 6.1.3 Actors belonging to the

How Will Declining Rates of Marriage Reshape Eligibility for Social Security?

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School accreditation is one process currently mandated in Nova Scotia schools to facilitate school improvement efforts. This mixed methods study sought to discover and describe the impact of the Nova Scotia School Accreditation Program (NSSAP) specifically on teaching and student learning in three secondary schools in one school board. Surveys, interviews, and school documents provided data concerning the nature of each school’s respective improvement goals and subsequent implemented strategies. An analysis follows that considers the NSSAP impact on teacher participation and student achievement, and the ambiguity of program success

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The Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the University of Idaho Extension, and other community and regional partners have been collaborating on the development of an education pipeline as a result of several years of leadership training in the community. Through their collaboration, gaps in educational services have been identified, new partnerships are being developed, and a deeper analysis of the root causes of the high rate of school dropouts is taking place