With the passing of the years, Barcelona society has not only gained in quality of life, but has also extended its life expectancy to levels never before seen. In recent decades, people over 65 have asserted themselves as an active group eager for social life and with the will to move around the city and find spaces to enjoy their time.
To understand this new reality, it must be taken into account that in the last 40 years, life expectancy in Barcelona has increased by almost eight years among men and by 6.6 among women, exceeding, in both cases, 80 years. This means that Barcelona residents have many more years to enjoy the city and everything it offers, a fact that makes a change in policies for old age necessary so that they are more active.
That is why the City Council decided to take a step with the plan Barcelona, ciutat amigable amb les persones grans 2022-2030, from the Directorate of Services for Children, Youth and the Elderly. This plan aims to achieve a city that promotes the autonomy of older people, facilitating their access to environments, equipment, services and necessary support so that they can choose the way of life that best suits their principles and values.
This is according to the director of Services for Children, Youth and the Elderly, Magda Orozco, who emphasizes that "the plan not only responds to the need to break stigmas towards older people, but also to work for their diversity, and to the will to show that, once the barrier of 65 years has been overcome, they are still a fundamental part of Barcelona society." Without going any further, in the coming years, one in three Barcelona residents will be over 60, a fact that pushes to actively respond to their needs.
Fight against ageism and loneliness
One of the main axes of the plan is the fight against ageism and loneliness. That is why the administration is actively working to raise awareness among older people, but also among the rest of the citizenry, that people over 65 can enjoy training or cultural activities that facilitate them establishing ties with people in their environment. As explained by Nuria Monterde, the technical manager of programs and cultural activities for older people, "we are facing a general action plan that includes all the activities and programs of the City Council to make the city friendly to older people."With the new plan, the centers for older people become central actors in this empowerment. They are currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation process to be able to host all kinds of activities, from courses to start working with new technologies to debate spaces or even gyms. In short, "they have become spaces for living and are designed as a place to meet and actively participate," says Monterde.
In addition to the centers, the City Council has also launched several programs to combat loneliness and ageism, such as VinclesBcn or Viure i conviure. The first seeks to connect older people who live in the same neighborhood or have the same hobbies through technology so that they can get to know each other and begin to weave personal connections and establish a consolidated network of interpersonal relationships, and ward off the possibility of feeling alone. Currently, there are already more than 3,000 users of the program, forming more than 150 groups.
The second program fights for intergenerational relationships and against ageism, since it proposes that a non-dependent older person cede a room in their home to a young person studying in the city, in exchange for active coexistence. The program shows good results and there are already almost 90 couples living together in the city, breaking all kinds of stigmas.
Regarding the workshops offered at the community centers, some of the most requested are those on digital learning, especially since the pandemic. This year, a total of 948 sessions will be held throughout Barcelona, which "show that older people have the desire and capacity to learn whatever they set their minds to," Monterde recalls. At the same time, Orozco points out that, "among the most successful activities of the program are the cultural proposals," such as routes through Barcelona or CineGran, a film program carried out in municipal community centers for older people, where films in which they are the protagonists are screened, which this year has had 138 screenings in total.
Given the lack of information, the BCN+65 app
In a city like Barcelona, the offer of activities is very wide, but often it is difficult to find them. For this reason, since 2022 the City Council has been making an effort to bring everything together in a single application, BCN+65.This application brings together, in an easy and accessible way, all current information and the main municipal services and resources for people over 65, including access to aid and bonuses. To be able to stay up to date with everything, the appit allows receiving a series of notifications so that no one misses anything of interest in the city.In addition, within it you can also find A prop meu, a map that shows points of interest for older people, which makes it easier for them to find and get to know them. Users can find everything from senior centers to the CAP, municipal libraries, public toilets, pharmacies... Everything that may be useful in their daily lives.
During this month of October and on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, celebrated every October 1, the City Council promotes a wide range of cultural activities and awareness actions. For the council, this anniversary represents an opportunity to highlight the municipal services aimed at older people and explain to citizens how they work to recognize their contribution, guarantee their rights and promote their well-being and active participation in the life of the city.
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