John Everitt

Planning for aging populations: inside or outside the walls

Abstract Over the past 15 years, OECD countries have come to recognise that their elderly populations are already, or will be, the fastest growing segments of their populations in the coming decades. In recognition of these demographic facts, public and private sectors planners with responsibility for housing, health and social services and transportation have divided into two camps. In one camp are those who believe that the full integration of the elderly population within their communities is the best way to insure the maximum life satisfaction of the elderly population over the longest period of time. This view manifests itself in proposals to allow ‘in-law suites’ to be built in areas zoned for single-family dwellings, deinstitutionalisaton and concomitant development of community-based care, and public transit systems made fully accessible to seniors regardless of their level of physical ability. In the other camp are those who believe that the elderly population wants and seeks a built environment which specifically caters for their particular needs. The most visible manifestations of this perspective are the ‘seniors only communities’ with their separate health and social services, and transportation systems. This paper focuses on integration versus segregation in planning housing, health and social services and transportation for seniors over the past 15 years (1986–2000). We emphasise that the planning outcomes of integrated-based and segregated-based solutions need to be understood within the broader socio-economic and legal contexts in which planning takes place. Underlying the integration-segregation dichotomy is the broader theoretical dichotomy of equity-efficiency. We have divided our paper into the main chapters. In the introductory chapter, the themes of integrated-based planning and segregated-based planning are explained. In addition, the current size and the future growth of elderly populations in OECD countries are reviewed. Chapter 2 focuses on housing. Chapter 3 examines the literature on health and social services and transportation. We conclude with an assessment of the implications of integrated-based and segregation-based planning for elderly populations in the next century.

Mennonites in Belize

During the 1950s and 1960s groups oftMennonites migrated to Belize from Mexico and Canada,Dfollowing the negotiation of an agreement between the leaders of the groups and the Belizean government. The Mennonites subsequently proved to be a valuable economic addition to the country. Within a decade, however, internal divisions led to migrations within Belize, and some individuals and groups left the country. The individuals returned for the most part to one of their earlier homes or to homes of their immediate families in Mexico and Canada. The groups moved to more isolated environments in Central and South America. This study presents the results of an investigation of these Mennonite migrations and outlines the various reasons for the moves. It also considers the reasons for the lack of movement by most Mennonites who are content with their present lifestyle. Most of the moves are of a “conservative” type with the migrants continually trying to avoid aspects of the outside world which they feel are encroa...

The recent migrations of Belize, Central America.

The study of migrations in Central America has become a topic of considerable interest and debate in the past few years both because of the interesting number of people involved and because of the increasing number of countries concerned with these movement networks (Lippman and Diaz-Briquets, 1981:8–11). Underlying these discussions about migration is the very real fact that migration “can profoundly alter a community or an entire country within a short time” (Weeks, 1981:149), and recent migrations into and out of Belize support this contention.

The Growth and Development of Belize City

Although Belize City has almost always been the centre of population in Belize, few studies have been devoted to its historical geography–or indeed to the urban geography of the country as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to gather together much of the scattered material on Belize City, in the hope that this codification will help the reader to understand the growth and present status of the city, and, perhaps, inspire others to do further research on this, still the major urban centre of Belize.

Regional planning in rural Manitoba: a study of the ‘health’ of a prairie region

Abstract Regional planning has commonly been concerned with large units at the expense of small, and often treats these areas as more or less homogeneous entities, rather than as regions that might vary internally, in their economic and social well-being. In contrast, this paper discusses a survey of agricultural and small business soundness and vitality, or ‘health’, conducted in the relatively small North Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. It was found that serious problems of agricultural health occur in this area of Manitoba, which make many rural communities less ‘sustainable’, although there are also great variations in potential well-being within the region. In particular, the family farm is still largely dependent upon family labour input, but it is also critically dependent upon outside income sources; without these the farm unit could not function. Small businesses were found, however, to be much healthier and much more optimistic about the future, although many only survived as a result of unpaid family labour and outside employment. In conclusion, we thus have a conundrum. Agricultural health was poor and deteriorating, and yet small business health was quite good and seemed to be improving, despite the fact that the latter has traditionally been dependent upon, and a reflection of, the former. Interestingly, many of the problems of this rural area are similar to those observed in other countries, which suggests that solutions, or at least decision-making towards solutions, could be more universally applied than in the past.

Evaluating support services to seniors A discussion of collaborative research

The difficulties involved in attempting to turn collaboration into partnership are revealed in this article about the relationship between research funders and researchers, specifically government funders and university researchers. Some discussion revolves around the relationships between researchers and among the researchers, practitioners, and consumers. This article also discusses collaborative research relationships by using the evaluation of a support program to seniors as an illustration. Also addressed are how the research revealed the success of the program and the frustrations encountered when government would not act on the findings.

Spatial Segregation in a Tourist City: The Case of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Although socio-spatial differentiation is a conspicuous characteristic of tourist cities, socio-spatial segregation has received little attention in the literature. To fill this gap, this exploratory article analyses socio-spatial segregation in Puerto-Vallarta, Mexico. Puerto-Vallarta was selected as a representative case study of cities with rapid growth due to its noticeable 1990-2005 socioeconomic development. What was once a small Mexican city with some tourists it has become a metropolitan area economically dependent upon tourism. Along with this overall change has come the differential development of infrastructure, coupled with internal population movements that have segregated facilities and activities as never before. Five indices analyze spatial segregation. The statistical results confirm the existence of an important degree of segregation in the city.