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Centre of Expertise Health Innovation

Research Group Urban Ageing

How can we contribute to the quality of daily living of older adults in the city? This question is the focus of the Chair of Urban Ageing. This question is increasingly important as older people are expected to fully participate in an ever ageing and urbanizing society.

About the research group

Older people should ideally ask themselves the following question: how can I lead my life in such a way that it offers good quality for me? And what if participation in society is no longer obvious or easy? A society with an increasing number of older people has a joint responsibility in this regard. How can we use knowledge from gerontology, social sciences, public administration, health sciences and care, building and real estate sciences, as well as technology to facilitate growing older in the best possible way?

Our research focuses on the everyday lives of older people in the age-friendly city of The Hague. In this diverse and inclusive city, older people should be able to feel at home and participate in life into old age. We work with partners to explore and shape these goals.

Team

Liesbeth de Wit

Jeroen Dikken

Mari Groenendaal

Rudy van den Hoven

Karin Krens

Esther Kroon

ZsuZsu Tavy

Jeroen Dikken

Jeroen Dikken, PhD RN received his bachelor's degree in nursing in January 2008 and completed his masters in Health Sciences and Gerontology in July 2010. During the years of study (2006 - 2010), he worked as a nurse in both primary care and in the hospital. In 2010, he made the transition to higher education where he started his PhD research. This study focused on measuring the hospital nurses’ knowledge of and attitude about older patients in hospital (clinimetrics). 

Within his current line of research 'the training of nurses in an (inter)professional context', he focuses on educational issues in nursing care practice. Through his research, he seeks to identify the training techniques required to develop successful nurse education programmes (efficient and effective) that help maintain a strong knowledge base, skills, positive attitudes and behaviour of nurses. With this research, he aims to contribute to the training of excellent nurses, which will lead to excellent quality of care. In addition to this research, he holds a number of national board positions and works as a Principal Lecturer at the Nursing School of The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He also works at the research group of Urban Ageing.
j.dikken@hhs.nl

Mari Groenendaal

Mari Groenendaal is a lecturer practitioner at WoonZorgcentra Haaglanden. She is originally a nursing specialist and in recent years has been active in the care, nursing home and home care sectors, with one foot in practice and one foot in education/science. In addition, Groenendaal is involved in various projects and studies related to maintaining meaningful activities for people with dementia; being able to be who you are despite the many limitations the disease brings.
mgroenendaal@wzh.nl

Rudy van den Hoven

How age-friendly are The Hague neighbourhoods? Especially if we look at it from the perspective of those older people who, in different areas and for different reasons, are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. What does an 'age-friendly' city and neighbourhood mean to them and what does it take? And what does the diversity in the city mean for the answers to these questions? Rudy van den Hoven is Principal Lecturer in Social Work at the Faculty of Social Work and Education. Focus areas include neighbourhood development, social inequality, poverty and social exclusion, and social work from an international perspective. He is also a member of the Dutch-Flemish working group Social Work and Human Rights. Prior to his appointment at THUAS, he worked in Portugal for a long time as a university lecturer and researcher in the field of social work and social policy and worked as a consultant/researcher for several European programmes in the field of poverty, social exclusion and urban development. In 2002, he received his doctorate from the Erasmus University Rotterdam with a comparative study on practices of community work and neighbourhood development in the Netherlands and Portugal. Within THUAS, he was previously active as a researcher within the research groups 'Metropolitan Development' and 'International Cooperation' and in 2017, for the research platform 'Connected learning', he researched the consequences of the introduction of the participation society in the districts of Ypenburg and Duindorp.
+31 (0)6 - 39 07 23 14
r.f.m.vandenhoven@hhs.nl

Karin Krens

As a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, she has been involved in innovative developments in the profession for over 50 years. Born in 1940, she now belongs to the target group of "Urban Ageing", and she is interested in all kinds of developments concerning older people. She observes differences in the pre- and post-war generation of older adults in terms of vitality and self-reliance. And the differentiation between older adults, which could be improved because "a 70-year-old is in a different phase than, for example, a 100+-year-old", she says. She wants to make a substantial contribution to the development of an intergenerational approach to different aspects of older citizens' lives, particularly with regard to housing. Therefore, she supports the concept of Intergenerational Living and hopes for implementation in the building plans of the Municipality of The Hague. Karin: “The most important thing is that the older adults in The Hague remain involved with the other age groups by connecting and being meaningful to each other. My goal is to contribute to a healthy and attractive society in the city of The Hague for a diversity of residents of all ages.”
c.j.m.jakobs@hhs.nl

Esther Kroon

How do people with dementia cope with their dementia? How do relatives cope with the situation? How do professionals deal with dementia? What can we learn from this together? How to live with dementia, and how to do this in the big city? These questions are examined in a practical way, improving existing practice with the knowledge and experience we bring together. Esther Kroon brings her knowledge and experience from (neuro-) psychology, the ‘contact clown’, discussions on the added value of people when care technology is deployed and her many years of experience in universities of applied sciences at the Nursing, Social Work and Pedagogical degree programmes.
e.kroon@hhs.nl

ZsuZsu Tavy

Zsuzsu Tavy, MA (1986) is a researcher at the research group Urban Ageing and a lecturer at the college of nursing within the minor Participatory Health Care. She studied Cultural Anthropology at Leiden University and specialised in visual ethnography, the use of film in research. After studying nursing at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, she became interested in the participation of patients and older people in research, policy and quality of care. In her research ‘Towards responsible rebellion’, she focuses on how older adults can be involved in the development of new forms of housing. She is also working on a participatory video project, in which older people make documentaries about living.
z.k.c.t.tavy@hhs.nl

About the professor

LinkedIn LinkedIn profile

dr hab. ir. Joost van Hoof Eur Ing

Joost van Hoof (1980) attained his MSc degree at Eindhoven University of Technology (Department of Architecture, Building and Physics). He also studied Environmental Engineering at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) in Prague. Prof van Hoof attained his doctoral degree from Eindhoven University of Technology (in cooperation with Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Healthcare Utrecht) with a dissertation on ageing-in-place for people with dementia in 2010. From 2011 to 2018 he was affiliated with the Centre for Healthcare & Technology of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, and served as the project leader of the Nursing Home of the Future Programme. From 2012 to 2013, Prof van Hoof worked with the ISSO – the Dutch Building Services Research Institute in Rotterdam in the field of healthy building services. Apart from several board memberships in the domain of older people, technology and housing, Prof van Hoof collaborates and is affiliated with several universities abroad. Key to his work is a focus on the abilities of older people, not their disabilities, even when participations seems difficult.

j.vanhoof@hhs.nl
The percentage of older people in the large cities will only increase in the coming years. It would be nice if they could grow old comfortably in the city, and also contribute in their own way to its overall quality.
Projects
Projects

Projects

Project City & Co

Project City & Co

The global ageing of the urban population calls for more age-friendly cities tailored to the wishes and needs of older adults and offering them every opportunity to participate in society. The research group Urban Ageing, together with national and European partners, will investigate the age-friendliness of four European cities during the three-year project City & Co: Older Adults Co-Creating a Sustainable Age-friendly City.
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Regional Networks for the Social Welfare Domain The Hague & Leiden

Regional Networks for the Social Welfare Domain The Hague & Leiden

How do you deal with the challenges of your profession as a professional? Which insights from science can help you further? And how do you share knowledge and experiences? In the Werkplaatsen Sociaal Domein, researchers and professionals work together on specific issues from practice. Since January 2020, the research group Urban Ageing participates in the Regional Networks for the Social Welfare Domain (RNSWD) The Hague & Leiden.
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Towards better cooperation in healthcare

Towards better cooperation in healthcare

Cooperation between healthcare professionals, informal carers and clients is a crucial factor in quality of care, but not always easy to achieve. In the project 'Working together for better cooperation' of the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, we develop and implement a practical toolkit for supporting health professionals, informal carers and clients in their mutual cooperation. The Urban Ageing research group participates in this research.
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Game helps in inclusive design of spaces and environments

Game helps in inclusive design of spaces and environments

How do you design healthy, smart and age-friendly buildings and environments where everyone can move around easily and freely? People with disabilities are often overlooked when neighbourhoods, buildings and public spaces are designed. This is a risk of social exclusion. In order to provide policy makers, city planners and civil engineers with more knowledge about users with disabilities, an online game is being developed by the 'Educational Game: Building Inclusive Environments for All Generations’ project, in short: BIG Game. The Urban Ageing research group is collaborating in this.
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Knowledge platform Age-Friendly City The Hague

Knowledge platform Age-Friendly City The Hague

In addition to the Municipality of The Hague, interest groups, knowledge institutions and social partners from The Hague region participate in the Knowledge Platform Age-Friendly City The Hague. The Knowledge Platform advises on the set-up of the integral age-friendliness monitor and supports the recruitment of respondents. In addition, partners contribute relevant research and other information to the Knowledge Platform, so that knowledge in the field of The Hague age-friendly city is further shared and enriched. The municipal Action Programme Age-Friendly The Hague 2020-2022 has three themes: Participation and pleasure in life, Healthy and resilient, and Living comfortably in your neighbourhood.
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Research cooperation in Europe: COST ACTION Projects

Research cooperation in Europe: COST ACTION Projects

The research group Urban Ageing participates in three COST Action projects. COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a European network to promote transnational cooperation between researchers across the European continent. It is one of the ways to give shape to the European ambitions of the research group. 
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Improving the thermal environment of housing for older Australians

Improving the thermal environment of housing for older Australians

Together with Professor Veronica Soebarto (principal) of the Faculty of Architecture at The University of Adelaide in Australia, Joost van Hoof, professor in Urban Ageing, carried out an ARC Discover project on thermal comfort in the homes of older people in South Australia. This project was completed in 2021.
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Towards Responsible Rebellion: Governance and participation in collective housing for older adults

Towards Responsible Rebellion: Governance and participation in collective housing for older adults

As of 1 May 2019, this project has started that was funded by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA. This project is a collaboration between the research groups Urban Ageing and Metropolitan Developments of The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and therefore also between two Centres of Expertise. The project will run until May 2022.
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About the research group
Publications
Publications

Publications

Special issue

Special Issue about Age-friendly Cities published

In February 2021, a Feature Paper Special Issue entitled "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives" was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This special issue features 30 contemporary contributions which relate to the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities initiative launched by the World Health Organization in 2007.

Special issue

Special Issue about Age-friendly Cities published

In February 2021, a Feature Paper Special Issue entitled "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives" was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This special issue features 30 contemporary contributions which relate to the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities initiative launched by the World Health Organization in 2007.

The key focus of this Special Issue is to provide a critical assessment and overview of the state of the art within the Age-friendly Cities arena. Published papers include an editorial, seven papers focusing on age-friendly neighbourhoods, cities, communities, and societies, three papers explore innovative approaches to housing, two papers concentrate on age-friendly transportation, four papers focus on innovative practices in the domain of cure and/or care for older citizens, four papers relate to respect and social inclusion, and nine papers focus on and consider the use and implementation of technology in an age-friendly city or community.

As a take home message, the guest editors, Prof Joost van Hoof (The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences) and Dr Hannah R. Marston (The Open University, Milton Keynes) would like to emphasize the need for greater collaboration between disciplines in order to create a truly multisectoral actions for making our cities age-friendly for all generations. The contents of this Special Issue is one of the ways to expand and disseminate knowledge and to facilitate the actual age-friendly agenda and narrative further.

All papers are published as open access papers, which means that they can be read and downloaded free of charge. Direct access to the special issue: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/Age_Friendly_Cities

All papers are also available in book form: https://www.mdpi.com/books/pdfview/book/4127

Projects
News
News
Publications