Re-imagining Longevity: Co-active Researchers and the Role of Older Adults in Designing Inclusive Communities

Current narratives on Aging in Place often limit the concept to a functional perspective, focusing primarily on home safety, healthcare accessibility, and the management of decline. However, a truly inclusive approach to longevity requires a radical paradigm shift: moving from a medicalized view of "frailty" to a situated and enactive perspective that recognizes long-lived individuals as strategic resources for the resilience of the entire community. This proposal presents the research and fieldwork conducted at the Centre for Healthy Longevity (University of Bergamo), a body of work positing that well-being is defined not only by architectural barriers, but by the "affordances"—or opportunities for action—offered by the urban environment. We introduce "City Shapers," an initiative where long-lived individuals act not as passive subjects, but as "active co-researchers" to map the city of Bergamo. They identify not only physical obstacles but also the emotional and relational geographies that foster or inhibit a sense of belonging and an active life within their neighborhood. This contribution highlights how integrating the lived experience of older adults, combined with a careful geo-urbanistic reading of the city, yields a wealth of real-world information and data that is otherwise irretrievable. Furthermore, by transforming citizens into potential agents of change who actively shape their environment, this approach promotes an Aging in Place model that prioritizes autonomy, identity continuity, and social participation. Through this multidimensional and multidisciplinary research model, we argue that the future of inclusive cities lies in recognizing longevity as a phase of potential, capable of generating new forms of community action and shared value.