Ageing in Urban Areas: Urban Agriculture and Senior Co-Housing as Tools for Sustainable Cities

This paper deals with the role that urban agriculture and senior co-housing play in developing more age-friendly (thus, sustainable) cities, with a focus on the Marche Region, Italy. These tools are crucial in promoting active ageing in both outdoor and indoor urban environments. To this end, the paper analyses the phenomena of urban agriculture for the elderly and senior co-housing focusing on regional and municipal solutions to regulate and promote such initiatives. The study adopts an interdisciplinary methodology, combining legal and anthropological research methods. The paper concludes that different approaches have been adopted at the local level to foster urban agriculture and senior co-housing as tools to develop more sustainable cities, responsive to the needs and rights of the elderly. This has led policy-makers from the Marche Region to implement different and not heterogeneous solutions in this field. Therefore, the paper develops some policy recommendations intended for the policy-makers of the territory to facilitate the transition towards more age-friendly cities.