6 Global environments of ageing: towards co-designing climate resilient environments and communities for ageing well

Introduction: ageing well in a changing climateBy 2030, an estimated 13 million people in the UK will be aged 65 or older, comprising 22 percent of the population (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2023).This demographic shift coincides with the escalating impacts of the climate crisis, which presents heightened health risks for older populations (Haq, 2019).Vulnerability stems from both individual factors, such as chronic health conditions, and collective factors including social deprivation and lack of climate resilient infrastructure (Astill and Miller, 2018;McDermott-Levy et al, 2019).For instance, rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves have been linked to increased mortality among older adults, particularly those with pre-existing medical conditions (Kaltsatou et al, 2018).Despite growing recognition of these risks, older people are rarely included in climate adaptation planning.Public engagement with this demographic remains limited, and there is a notable gap in understanding their perspectives, behaviours and climate imaginaries in relation to the places that shape their everyday lives (Latter, 2022;Pinna et al, 2024).Furthermore, little is known about how older people's everyday knowledge and practices can inform more inclusive and sustainable adaptation strategies.This chapter reflects on the ways in which two independent one-year projects (2022-23) explored older people's perspectives of climate change to enable the co-design of more inclusive, resilient and sustainable places.Understanding Older and younger people's PercepTions and Imaginaries of Climate Change (OPTIC) co-created a comic book of climate change stories with older and younger people in five varied environments of ageing in South Wales.Healthy Ageing in a Changing Climate: Creating Inclusive, Age-Friendly, and Climate Resilient Cities and Communities in the UK (HACC) utilised