Adaptive Reuse for Aging Populations in Shrinking Cities

Over the past two decades, cities around the globe have been faced with the challenge of supporting a rapidly growing aging population. In addition to this, many cities are simultaneously experiencing population loss, which can negatively impact the economy and result in rapidly increasing vacancy rates. As populations continue to both shrink and age, urban planners must find a way to sustainably support the aging population while also minimizing the repercussions of a decreased tax base and the threat of urban decline. Taken together, these challenges raise the question of how can a shrinking, economically distressed city adequately support their aging population? This thesis explores the underexamined potential of adaptive reuse as a planning strategy for supporting aging populations in shrinking cities. Adaptive reuse is a unique city building technique that aims to extend building lifespan, revitalize neighbourhoods, and promote sustainability through reuse of vacant, abandoned, or underutilized buildings. Shrinking cities provide a particularly relevant context for this approach, as elevated vacancy rates present unique opportunities for the creation of adaptively reused age-friendly spaces. Using Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), Nova Scotia, as a case study, this research employed a mixed-methods, two-phase sequential research design. The study highlights the importance of the built environment in supporting older adults, emphasizing age-friendly adaptive reuse initiatives that are mixed-use, affordable, integrate health services, and are shaped through participatory planning processes. The research emphasizes that adaptive reuse should not be understood as a one-time design intervention, but as an ongoing, place-based process shaped by local context and lived experience. Overall, this thesis argues that adaptive reuse can serve as a meaningful planning strategy to support aging populations in shrinking cities when embedded within participatory planning and broader policy frameworks.

Department dc:contributor.department

Geography and Planning

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Gallina, Danielle

Advisor dc:contributor.supervisor

• Hartt, Maxwell

• Shrinking Cities
• Urban Planning
• Aging Population
• Adaptive Reuse

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1974/36398

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:queensu.scholaris.ca:1974/36398