Friendly Residential Environments for Ageing in Place with Autonomy and Independence

Dear Colleagues,

The issue will focus on theoretical and applied subjects about residential environments and their connections with personal and contextual factors, quality of life, and wellbeing as people age. Conceptual approaches, literature reviews, and methodological studies deserve a special mention, as well as the incorporation of new technologies, the management of health emergencies (COVID-19 pandemic), and climatic risks, which are of valuable interest to better understand the environmental dimensions of aging at home/in place. From multidisciplinary epigenetic approaches and environmental gerontology, studies on implications of the aging environments on therapeutic strategies will be accepted.

We have been invited to organize a Special Issue on Friendly Residential Environments for Aging in Place with Autonomy and Independence in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Impact Factor: 2.849 in 2019). More detailed information can be found in the journal site http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

Under the Aging in Place (AIP) paradigm, older people report their preference for aging in their usual environments, distinguishing between various geographic scales: micro (dwelling), meso (community and neighborhood of residence) and macro (support services). However, the unadaptability of environments to the changing needs of older residents could have adverse effects on their health and living conditions. In this sense, the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities program is designed to engage communities to be adapted to address the environmental and social factors that contribute, from a theoretical or applied perspective, to active and healthy aging and, consequently, to well-being and quality of life as people age.

This Special Issue will welcome contributions related to the residential environment of older people, their characteristics, and its influence on autonomy, independence, and quality of life in the aging process, such as studies connected with aging in place, age-friendly cities and communities, active and healthy aging, residential contexts (housing, long-term care settings, cohousing), residential social networks, residential services, and related topics, for older adults both with and without dementia. Theoretical approaches, literature reviews, and methodological studies deserve a special mention, as well as the application of quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods, or the incorporation of new technologies to better understand the environmental dimensions of aging at home. In addition, new studies on the therapeutic importance of environments in aging are accepted, from the multidisciplinary approaches of epigenetic and environmental gerontology. Precisely, some of the responses to health emergencies (COVID-19 pandemic) and climate hazards (floods, heat waves) will come from a better understanding within aging environments.

Dr. Fermina Rojo-Pérez
Dr. Gloria Fernández-Mayoralas
Dr. Diego Sánchez-González
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.