One of the Grand Challenges Initiatives of the Berlin University Alliance is dedicated to the area of Global Health. "Ageing Well in the Urban Environment" is one of the funded cooperation projects. It hits a nerve, because the question of "How can we ensure we are cared for and socially integrated in old age" is a pressing issue worldwide.

Two of the biggest challenges facing population development worldwide are demographic change and urbanization. The world's population is ageing. Take Germany, for example: the proportion of older people in the total population is increasing. A good 16 percent of German citizens are already at an age of 75 or older. Thanks to ever-improving medical care, the baby boomer generation that is now retiring can expect to live for at least another twenty years if they are in good health.

At the same time, the proportion of the world's population living in cities is increasing. By 2030, it will be 60 percent. (Source: https://www.destatis.de) In turn, many of these people live alone in old age. In Germany, for example, older women aged 65 and over constitute the largest group of all German citizens living alone.

The collaborative interdisciplinary BUA project "Ageing Well in the Urban Environment" has set itself the goal of researching the health and social needs of the older population in large cities. It is part of the BUA Grand Challenge Initiative Global Health. It involves the Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine (Charité), the Institute of Medical Sociology and Rehabilitation Science (Charité), the Department of Psychology (HU), the Geography Department (HU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). The researchers from Singapore are funded by the NUS. They include medical doctors, sociologists, geographers and psychologists. They are investigating the question of how healthy ageing can succeed in the big city.

Two Partners Facing Similar Challenges

Berlin and Singapore are ideally suited for cooperation in this project. The doctor and epidemiologist Wolfram Herrmann, Professor of General Medicine with a focus on healthcare research, is the spokesperson for the project and says: "Singapore and Berlin are both city states that will face similar challenges in the coming years and decades: an ageing population and the need to ensure medical and nursing care for these people on the one hand and to counteract the loneliness of older people living alone on the other."

Although Singapore has a different healthcare system than Germany, it faces similar challenges. For example, the number of hospital treatments is above average in both countries. Even before the funding began, the project partners explored the research topic together with the help of BUA Seed Funding Grants.

They complement each other well. Singaporean sociologist Angelique Chan is the Director of the Centre for Ageing Research & Education at the Duke-NUS Medical School and a renowned expert in the field of loneliness research; senior researcher Abhijit Visaria conducts research as a demographer. The BUA researchers, in turn, contribute a great deal of expertise in the areas of medical care, mobility and urban planning.

Visaria explains: "When considering aspects of an age-friendly environment, attention naturally focuses first on physical infrastructures." This includes age-appropriate buildings and accessibility of public transport. "In our study, it is generally assumed that such physical infrastructures are important, but that it is perhaps just as important, if not more important, to also consider the living environment. This includes, in particular, the extent to which older people feel that the environment meets their needs and promotes better health, greater mobility, greater social participation and greater social cohesion."

For the study, 1050 people aged 65 and over in Berlin and Singapore, each in three different urban areas, have been surveyed quantitatively and qualitatively about their everyday lives since December 2023. The questions are the same in Berlin and Singapore, only adapted to the cultural background. The evaluation of the answers is intended to provide information about the current situation and potential for improvement. The focus is on four key dimensions of well-being in old age: health, mobility, loneliness and social factors.

Wolfram Herrmann sees great opportunities in the collaboration: "Because we are dealing with different healthcare systems and different socio-cultural backgrounds, we can learn a lot from each other. It will be exciting to compare the results in Singapore and Berlin."

The healthcare researcher adds: "The fact that the situation in medical care in rural areas is very tense in some regions has already been addressed in research projects. However, the fact that there are also gaps in care in many districts of large cities has often been overlooked"

Data collection has only just begun, but in the long term the results of the study should contribute to improving social and healthcare provision for older people in urban areas.