Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Aging Research Volume 2012, Article ID 148287, 12 pages doi:10.1155/2012/148287 Research Article Revisiting the Role of Neighbourhood Change in Social Exclusion and Inclusion of Older People Victoria F. Burns,1, 2 Jean-Pierre Lavoie,1, 2, 3 and Damaris Rose4 1 Centre de Recherche et d’Expertise en G´erontologie Sociale (CREGE´S), C.S.S.S. Cavendish, 5800 Cavendish Boulevard, Montr´eal, QC, Canada H4W 2T5 2 School of Social Work, McGill University, Montr´eal, QC, Canada H3A 2A7 3 E´cole de Travail social, Universit´e du Qu´ebec a` Montr´eal, Montr´eal, QC, Canada H2L 4Y2 4 Centre Urbanisation Culture Soci´et´e, Universit´e INRS, 385 Rue Sherbrooke Est, Montr´eal, QC, Canada H2X 1E3 Correspondence should be addressed to Victoria F. Burns, victoria.burns@mail.mcgill.ca Received 13 May 2011; Accepted 18 July 2011 Academic Editor: Frank Oswald Copyright © 2012 Victoria F. Burns et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To explore how older people who are “aging in place” are aﬀected when the urban neighbourhoods in which they are aging are themselves undergoing socioeconomic and demographic change. Methods. A qualitative case study was conducted in two contrasting neighbourhoods in Montre´al (Que´bec, Canada), the analysis drawing on concepts of social exclusion and attachment. Results. Participants express variable levels of attachment to neighbourhood. Gentriﬁcation triggered processes of social exclusion among older adults: loss of social spaces dedicated to older people led to social disconnectedness, invisibility, and loss of political inﬂuence on neighbourhood planning. Conversely, certain changes in a disadvantaged neighbourhood fostered their social inclusion. Conclusion. This study thus highlights the importance of examining the impacts of neighbourhood change when exploring the dynamics of aging in place and when considering interventions to maintain quality of life of those concerned. 1. Introduction A number of researchers have suggested that with advancing age, a person’s geographical area tends to become increas- ingly limited in space [1–6]. Research that has explored the question of the meaning of place in diﬀerent groups indicates that proximity of neighbours has a greater importance in the lives of older residents [7]. The neighbourhood is more signiﬁcant for older people and the disadvantaged than for the younger and more aﬄuent, who tend to develop social networks more diﬀuse in space [8, 9]. (Following current conventions, we use the terms “older person” and “older adult” in reference to people aged 65 years and over.) Moreover, the neighbourhood and the “home” become key elements in social life—social relations gradually become limited to people who live nearby—and also in deﬁning one’s sense of self, because the neighbourhood provides a number of identity markers [10]. Older people tend to be more reliant on their immediate environment as they are less likely to be involved in employment and have greater chance of becoming physically dependent [11]. Despite the growing body of aging-in-place research, social gerontology, hampered by static “environmental ﬁt” models [12] has paid relatively little attention to the changes taking place in the neighbourhoods within which older people are aging and to how they experience these changes (submit to? actively participate in?. . .). It has been largely up to researchers in the geographies of aging to demonstrate the importance of neighbourhood change. Moreover, the social gerontology literature on aging in place and on the role of place in aging in old urban neighbourhoods—including a notable recent UK-Canadian comparison [13]—still focuses predominantly on neighbourhoods experiencing observable physical decline or mounting criminality. The latter could have negative impacts on older people’s comfort level in their homes or on their ability to appropriate and navigate local public spaces [14, 15]. This focus is not surprising given that living in neighbourhoods of “multiple deprivation” can potentially