Contested occupation in place: Experiences of inclusion and exclusion in seniors’ housing

ABSTRACT Congregate living among older adults aims to enhance important aspects of well-being, such as sense of community and social engagement. Such settings, however, involve a complexity of social and power relations, and inclusion and exclusion along lines of occupation and place can occur. In this paper we develop a concept of contested occupation in place and use this concept to explore experiences of inclusion and exclusion in a seniors-only apartment building. Data were drawn from a participatory action research (PAR) project aimed at building social connectedness among residents of this building. Throughout the project we collected data about the PAR processes and outcomes through observation and reflexive notetaking. We also conducted end-of-project semi-structured interviews with nine residents who were part of the PAR collective. Analysis focused on data pertaining to issues of occupation in place, including key collective occupations, points of tension, and links to communal spaces in the apartment building. The findings presented here centre on collective occupations in the building common room that were contested and illustrate how occupation in place can be a mechanism of exclusion. Residents attempted to assert power in a variety of ways, often related to pre-existing social tensions. These findings indicate the importance of attending to power dynamics over time and identifying potentially exclusionary practices within collective occupation in place. Further research can explore how dynamics at micro scales reflect larger societal dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, as well as explore additional settings in which older adults live and engage in collective occupations.