Urban ageing is an emerging domain that deals with the population of older people living in cities. The ageing of society is a positive yet challenging phenomenon, as population ageing and urbanisation are the culmination of successful human development. One could argue whether the city environment is an ideal place for people to grow old and live at an old age compared to rural areas. This viewpoint article explores and describes the challenges that are encountered when making cities age-friendly in Europe. Such challenges include the creation of inclusive neighbourhoods and the implementation of technology for ageing-in-place. Examples from projects in two age-friendly cities in The Netherlands (The Hague) and Poland (Cracow) are shown to illustrate the potential of making cities more tuned to the needs of older people and identify important challenges for the next couple of years. Overall, the global ageing of urban populations calls for more age-friendly approaches to be implemented in our cities. It is a challenge to prepare for these developments in such a way that both current and future generations of older people can benefit from age-friendly strategies.

HighlightsThere is a general lack of psychometric assessments on existing ageism scales.None of the available ageism scales have both adequate scope and psychometric validity.Current estimates of ageism incidence and prevalence may not be accurate.

Purpose – The purpose of this empirical paper is to investigate the employers’ perception of productivity of older workers in Poland with comparison to the younger ones. The paper examines whether various factors including employee's skills and company policies play a role. The findings were compared with situation in the Netherlands, discussing the differences. Design/methodology/approach – Data come from 2009 representative survey (CATI) of 1,037 Polish companies. Supervisor’ rating method was used for assessment of workers skills and productivity. Primary analysis are linear regression models with employer's assessment of productivity of older and younger workers as dependent variables. Findings – In case of older workers, higher assessment of soft skills is the most influential factor for explaining the assessment of productivity, while hard skills play smaller, yet not minor, role. In case of younger workers the relation is reversed. Age management aiming at improvement of older workers’ job performance correlates with higher rating of their productivity. Research limitations/implications – Cross-sectional researches in the case of age-group comparison may be biased by the cohort effect. Practical implications – The paper brings forth important implications for policy makers and employers who will have to deal with the challenge of an aging and shrinking workforce. They refer to lifelong learning, system of public health, age management. The most important conclusion concerns the negative influence of age-related stereotypes for the labor market situation of older workers. Originality/value – The paper presents data from the first research aimed at employers’ views of older workers in Poland. The paper extends the knowledge about relation of employers’ opinions, their actions and situation of older workers.

The retirement transition is a major life change affecting people’s lifestyles and behaviors, including those in relation to physical activity (PA), which is a key component of active ageing. Previous research analyzing the effect of retirement on PA levels has shown mixed results, and few studies investigated this issue in a gender perspective, thus, highlighting a need of knowledge in this respect. Aims of this study focused on the experience of PA during the retirement transition were to understand typologies of PA and possible changes in these typologies, to identify behavioural types relative to PA practice and levels, and to distinguish the main drivers and barriers for practicing PA associated with the different behavioural types. A further goal of the study was to investigate the abovementioned aims considering differences between women and men. Analyses were carried out within a three-year qualitative longitudinal study (2014-2016), which explored the individual experience of PA during the transition from work to retirement of 24 women and 16 men in Italy, with interviews carried out one year before and one and two years after retirement. Results show that preferred PA for both women and men was walking, along the transition to retirement. Over time, several participants replaced physically demanding activities with lighter ones. Six behavioural types were identified, describing individuals who incremented, started, or maintained the same level of PA, people who decreased PA levels or stopped it, and individuals who had a fluctuant behavior towards PA, or who had never practiced it. In general, poor health represented the main barrier to PA. For men, the main driver to PA was its effects on body shape, while for women, socialization/networking. In order to stimulate a more effective promotion of PA during the retirement transition, policy implications were discussed in light of the results obtained.

Perek‐Białas J, Turek K. Organisation‐level policy towards older workers in Poland This article presents the results of studies on organisation‐level strategies towards older workers in Poland. The analyses were based on a national and representative sample survey of 1,037 companies (public and private sectors) – the first of its kind in Poland. The question of the survey was: How do Polish employers deal with an ageing workforce and how can management tap into their potential through various measures? The analyses revealed three different strategies: (i) improvement of productivity – trying to improve the skills and competencies of older workers, increase their effective use of and adjustment to the workplace, plan individual career moves and avoid work burn‐out; (ii) the pushing out of older workers – attempting to rid the workplace of older workers as quickly as possible; (iii) accommodation and reduction of labour costs – slowly preparing senior workers for retirement and creating conditions that would meet their actual needs.