Research in urban policies and urban planning needs to take into account the role of health issues and, today, the issue of ageing in policy making. Ageing policies and public health policies are closely linked, but only partially overlap. Awareness of demographic ageing first led to policies focused on care homes, hospitals and the treatment of diseases, before shifting towards broader policies and societal changes that include housing, seniors’ rights, support for caregivers, reduction of social isolation and social integration. Ageing policies therefore have social, environmental and intergenerational dimensions that go beyond medical care.

In recent years, the rise of mental health concerns (highlighted by the Covid‑19 crisis in 2020) has led to a similar evolution in public health policies, independently of any specific age group. As the WHO stated in its 1948 Constitution, health cannot be reduced to the absence of disease or infirmity, but must be understood as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” In France, the École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP) has defined the Healthy Urban Planning approach (Urbanisme Favorable à la Santé, UFS) as “a way to think planning and urban design as key factors for well-being, health, the environment and the climate.” Since the mid‑2000s, the concept of One Health has also become central for addressing the interdependencies between human health, animal health and ecosystem health.

While hygienist movements have left a lasting mark on the history of urban planning, current debate among professionals in health, ageing and urban planning reveal the need for stronger and more coherent connections. In many metropolitan and urban planning documents, we can observe inconsistencies in policy frameworks, key messages and methods.

This special issue starts from the hypothesis that ageing policies applied to urban planning and housing have often (re)paved the way for broader public health policies. It aims to study how ageing and public health are articulated in urban policy making. Using ageing as an analytical lens, we also aim to understand how health policies are adapted to different spaces and territories.

We invite contributions that address, for example, the following questions: How are the principles of health, well‑being and healthy ageing promoted by major international organisations (WHO, UN, etc.) reflected in local policies? What narratives do these policies rely on, and which stakeholders and partners promote, transform or contest them? How do local authorities, real estate stakeholders, social landlords and health professionals address ageing and health in their strategies and actions? How do institutional definitions of old age and ageing influence public health debates? Does the institutionalisation of ageing give rise to criticism, resistance and protest, and from whom? How do people (whether old or not) position themselves in relation to public discourses on their health? In which ways does ageing intersect with urban policies and with “best practices” in urban planning, such as those promoting walking and physical activity? What role does the hospital play in public health policies, in a context where health issues extend to urban planning, housing and everyday living environments?

Within this framework, understandings of population ageing and health vary across cultures. We therefore welcome analyses based on empirical case studies and urban policies in different countries and region.

The special issue is structured around two main thematic axes.

1 – Urban policies, planning, and the governance of health and ageing

This axis focuses on the governance of health and ageing in urban and regional policies, including planning instruments, actors’ networks and institutional arrangements. Without encroaching on the field of health geography, we are particularly interested in the spatial distribution of stakeholders and facilities (for example, the concept of “medical deserts”).

How do local authorities address medical and social provision, particularly in rural or peripheral areas? What strategies are deployed to attract and retain medical staff, and with what consequences for other activities in the territory? In what ways is the hospital an urban actor and a local stakeholder? Conversely, how does a high density of health facilities and professionals shape the trajectory of certain territories (for example, medium‑sized cities) in a context of increased awareness of environmental health and mental health issues? What can we learn about pioneering cities (e.g. Nantes, Lausanne, and others) that seek to link mental health issues with urban policies and spatial planning? How can we study labels linking cities, housing, ageing and health, such as “Age‑Friendly City”?

How have professional networks contributed to the emergence of Environment–Health plans or programmes? How have practitioners who are also elected officials left their mark on the development of their territories (for example, Ernest Martin in Louviers), and what comparable examples can be observed in other national contexts? What can we learn from the development of training programmes linking health and urban issues, for professionals in housing, urban planning, public health and ageing?

2 – Planning, housing and everyday practices in the face of ageing

This axis explores how health and ageing are addressed in concrete urban projects, housing policies and everyday practices, at the scale of buildings, neighbourhoods and daily mobility.

We will examine the importance that project owners, developers and designers attach to health and ageing in urban projects and housing programmes. While housing has always played a key role in ageing policies and program, senior housing and mobility are increasingly being integrated into urban planning by city developers. What place do health concerns occupy in the diagnostic phase of urban projects? How health and aging policies are linked to mobility policies, particularly in suburban and rural areas, in relation to the issue of healthcare access? More broadly, looking at the daily mobility of seniors in public spaces allows us to question the accessibility of territories. Are these issues only taken into account in projects explicitly linked to ageing (senior housing complexes, older people’s districts, etc.)? How can certification and labelling of real estate projects lead to forms of “silver washing » ?

We particularly encourage interdisciplinary contributions bridging urban planning, social sciences, public health, housing studies and environmental research . We also welcome contributions that investigate participatory processes and micro‑scale arrangements. In the study and pre‑operational phases, how is the participation of future users organised in the case of senior housing (for instance, generative programming approaches)? What initiatives in participatory housing and gender‑sensitive approaches (such as Babayaga, O Penty des Pikez near Morlaix, and similar projects elsewhere) tell us about health‑promoting housing and urban planning? How do social landlords, developers, consultancy firms, elected officials and residents position themselves within this project of health‑promoting housing and urbanism?

Do and how technical devices at the micro‑scale of housing—such as home automation and AI—contribute to preventing health issues and addressing ageing? What economic, social and ethical stakes are associated with the deployment of these technologies, and how do they shape people’s relationship to their bodies and to inhabited space? More broadly, how do public policies influence residents’ everyday practices, and in which ways can health and ageing become a vector for people’s capacity to understand and act on their environment?