this was developed as a part of policy brief of participatory approaches with older adults by WG on place and community: Address older adults as a diverse group that is not only defined by and does not only identify by a calendrical age. Reflect upon your own images of ageing, the images of ageing in your institution, and the relation of age boundaries to your project: Why do you address and aim to involve people of a certain age? Are you targeting older adults as people with limited mobility or disabilities, as people in a specific life stage (e.g. retirement) or role (e.g. grandparents), or a specific generation (e.g. Baby Boomers)? Disseminate and label your activities accordingly, for example, instead of talking to “people over 65 years”, address “people that have recently retired”. Consider the intersectional nature of ageing, where factors like migration, disability, and socioeconomic status compound challenges to participation. Developing nuanced participatory models and approaches that take these intersections into account will ensure that more older adults are empowered to contribute meaningfully. Initiatives that take these various recommendations into account will be able to involve older adults who are typically marginalised from decision-making processes and mainstream participatory approaches. This would help reveal and address the diverse experiences of ageing, complex situations, and the needs of older adults, ultimately contributing to the creation of more inclusive communities.
Adopt participatory frameworks that are culturally tailored and context-sensitive to better engage diverse older adult populations, including migrants, refugees, Indigenous people, and those living in deprived conditions. This will ensure that all voices are heard and represented, particularly those often marginalised within decision-making processes. Employ strategies that reduce linguistic and cultural barriers, particularly for older immigrants and refugees. This could involve using culturally appropriate communicational materials and offering multilingual support when necessary.
Older adults themselves emphasise that it requires a lot of resources and skills to actively participate in research, policymaking and practice design: the means to access information, the ability and willingness to learn new things, the capabilities to exchange with others, time, patience and tolerance, self-reflection, and the self-esteem to raise one’s voice. Provide training and resources to empower older adults with the skills and knowledge necessary for meaningful participation. This includes offering the tools and vocabulary required to fully understand and engage with the discussed issues. Additionally, ensure that older participants are given adequate time to form their opinions, engage in collective discussions, and refine their ideas, allowing them to actively contribute throughout the participatory process.
Recommendations and implications for practice
Provide resources: time and money
Participatory approaches with older adults require a lot of resources. Some of these resources are spatial, others are related to capacities (see above), but most of all, participatory approaches require time – from researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and older co-creators themselves. In many contexts, this time costs money. Consequently, it is important to budget for this in terms of personnel months and remuneration for co-creators. Remuneration is not only a means of recognition of co-creators’ work, but might also incentivise and enable participation for certain groups that could not participate without compensation (for example, covering public transport costs). Moreover, many older adults are involved in caregiving activities for their partners, parents, children and grandchildren, as well as neighbours, and need to know their friends and relatives are taken care of while they are actively involved in co-creation processes.
Participatory approaches shake up the power hierarchies between experts by training and experts by experience and distribute control and decision-making sovereignty between them. In a community and place context, this shift involves creating shared and safe spaces – both literal and symbolic – where all stakeholders can collaboratively shape their environment. These shared spaces should be rooted in the places that matter to older adults, leveraging their existing connections to their communities. For example, local libraries, community centres, or informal meeting spaces like parks or coffee shops can serve as accessible venues for these dialogues. Stakeholders and academic researchers must learn to cope with this empowerment of older co-creators and therefore their own disempowerment, and both groups must learn to negotiate a new way of making decisions beyond the template of experts vs. lay people. One way to institutionalise this process is by establishing mediating positions such as community facilitators or older advocates, and thus help bridge gaps between diverse groups, ensuring inclusive dialogue and fair decision-making.
Share power, control and sovereignty
Make participatory approaches accessible both physically and digitally. Older adults might have negative associations with certain places, like universities, religious institutions, or municipalities. Draw on locations that are already part of the older adults’ life worlds you want to address - and consider, again, that these might be diverse, and consider mobile and outreaching approaches. Adapt venues and formats to accommodate older adults with their capacities and diverse mobility needs, including providing accessible transportation options, meeting places that are easy to reach, and user-friendly digital platforms (if used) for those with varying levels of technological proficiency. Beyond spatial accessibility, language can pose a significant barrier to inclusive participation. This includes offering multilingual resources tailored to the languages most common in the community, as well as culturally sensitive communication that respects the nuanced views of older adults from diverse backgrounds and will allow them to express themselves and engage with others. This might involve incorporating interpreters, translation services, or visual aids to bridge linguistic divides. It is also essential to actively involve older adults in co-creating communication strategies and formats that resonate with their preferences and lived experiences.
Improve spatial and linguistic accessibility
To fundamentally shift the position and role of older adults in participatory approaches, it is essential to recognise them not as passive recipients of services and policies or mere research subjects, but as active contributors to shaping their environments.
develop adequate input for policy brief developed by WG3 on participatory approaches with older adults  in technology and innovation