ABPL90131 Positive Ageing Strategic Plan

SUMMERHILL

October 2021

P ositive Ageing Strategy 2021-2031

Shruti Dalvi 993220 ABPL90131 Strategic Plan Making Task 3 Part B

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E x ecu t i ve S u mma r y Summerhill Positive Ageing Strategy 2021-2031 is a 10 year strategic plan to ensure that the Summerhill precinct develops in accordance with a growing ageing

population.

considers

the

This

strategy

existing

access,

walkability, safety and engagement issues noticed through a virtual site visit

and

demographic

analysis.

Through application of positive ageing literature which highlights a need for health, safety and participation as key features of an ‘ageing city’, this strategy

envisions

Summerhill

to

celebrate and ensure a positive ageing experience for its elderly residents of now and the future. 10 actions have been proposed to bring this vision to life, with varying time frame and budget. A monitoring and evaluation plan is proposed to ensure this strategic plan remains on track and is amended if required periodically.

S ummer hi l l P os i t i ve A gei ng S t r a t egy 2021- 2031

C O NT E NT SCONTENTS Page no.

Introduction

4

Background of Summerhill

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What is positive ageing?

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Consulting our community

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Vision & Goals

8

Action Plan

9

Monitoring & Evaluation

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Strategy alignment

12

Conclusion

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A C K N OW L E D G E M E N T O F C O U N T RY This repor t wou ld like to beg in by a cknow ledg ing t h e Wu r u n d j e r i Wo i - w u r r u n g p e o p l e , Tr a d i t i o n a l Custodians of the land which is the subject of this r e p o r t . We p a y o u r r e s p e c t s t o t h e i r E l d e r s p a s t and present and extend that respect to Abor iginal a n d To r r e s S t r a i t I s l a n d e r p e o p l e s t o d a y.

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S ummer hi l l P os i t i ve A gei ng S t r a t egy 2021- 2031

I n t r odu ct i on The purpose of this ‘Summerhill Positive Ageing Strategy” is to develop a new ageing strategy for Summerhill precinct, building on the existing Darebin Active and Healthy Ageing Strategy which is to end in 2021. This report will build on existing analysis conducted for Summerhill, community views to develop a vision for this strategy and accompany it with a set of actions that can be monitored and evaluated over a period of 10 years.

B a ck g r ou n d of S u m m er h i l l The Summerhill precinct is located approximately 14km North East of Melbourne CBD. It is a small precinct bounded by Plenty Road (North), Darebin Creek (East), Wood Street (South) and Albert Street (West). The area known currently as East Reservoir-East Preston was given the name ‘Summerhill’ from the prominent retail centre ‘Summerhill Shopping Centre’ to identify this precinct as separate from the general East Preston and East Reservoir Area (Dalvi, Lan and Yu, 2021). The majority age group in this area is 25-34, however, residents aged over 50 years old collectively overtakes the prominent age group category. This indicates a large elderly population.

A significant presence of aged care facilities is seen in Summerhill as seen in Figure 1 below. The aged care facilities make up a significant amount of subject land area and their importance is highlighted by their proximity to Summerhill Shopping Centre. The social infrastructure map indicates the need for critical infrastructure to connect elderly residents to everyday services, especially the ones living in the Southern region of Summerhill but also ensuring safer connection for those living adjacent to Summerhill Shopping Centre.

S o ci a l I n f r a s t r u ct u r e M a p

Figure 1. Social infrastructure within the subject area. (Basemap adapted from AURIN Map, (2021), Image take from (Dalvi, Lan and Yu, 2021).

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A cces s t o s er vi ces Key issues noticed from a virtual site visit to the Summerhill precinct included lack of infrastructure promoting walkability of the area, leading to lack of access to services for majority of the population. The Social Infrastructure Map in Figure 1 shows an 800m walkable catchment, derived from Plan Melbourne 2017s 20 minute neighbourhood plan, covering majority of the site area. This catchment is supposed to indicate that the area is accessible by a 20 minute walk.

However, a desktop analysis and virtual site visit to Summerhill conducted by Dalvi, Lan and Yu, (2021), reveals that the reality of walkability in Summerhill differs greatly.

A ct u a l wa l k a b l e r o u t e s co n n e ct i n g s o ci a l i n f r a s t r u ct u r e

2km walking path from Twin Parks Aged Care to Summerhill Shopping Centre.

1.5km walking path from middle of site area to Summerhill Shopping Centre

850m walking path from edge of subject site to health service.

Figure 2. Actual walkable routes to social infrastructure. (Nearmap, 2021). Concept adapted from Dalvi, Lan and Yu (2021)

Actual walking paths mapped in Figure 2 aim to expose the reality of walkability within the existing infrastructure. Due to closure of streets from courts or fencing blocking access, the actual walking distance from a resident to social infrastructure such as groceries increases vastly. Many are forced to take the main road and walk through a heavy intersection on small paths to access services. These walking conditions may feel difficult and unsafe for elderly residents who wish to access the available social infrastructure, therefore highlighting the need for better and safer walkability infrastructure.

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W h a t i s p os i t i ve a gei n g?

Positive ageing falls within the overarching meaning of ensuring the growing elderly population within an area is serviced efficiently for a healthy ageing to end of life experience. People are generally living longer according to World Health Organisation and this comes with its own challenges surrounded the design of cities due to the different accessibility needs for ageing populations (Nassir et al., 2015). Positive ageing is also referred to as ‘Active’, ‘Healthy’, ‘Successful’, or ‘Productive’ ageing (Nassir et al., 2015 p.264).

It is necessary to ensure a positive environment for residents, elderly and others to stimulate better physical and mental health, reduce loneliness and negative experiences (Kendig et al., 2014). Actions for positive ageing would be derived from established literature such as the WHO Age friendly cities guide (World Health Organisation, 2007 p.9) [Figure 4] and pillars of active ageing (Nassir et al., 2015 p. 265) [Figure 3].

Positive Ageing: Pillars, Elements and (internal/external) Factors

Figure 3. Positive ageing framework. (Nassir et al., 2015 p. 265)

Age friendly city topic areas

Figure 4. Age friendly city. (World Health Organisation, 2007 p.9)

The purpose of positive ageing is to provide opportunities for elderly residents and enhancing, easing the life experience through provision of adequate services. Summerhill’s aged care presence indicates to a population of elderly people requiring services not just in their aged care facility, but outside of that as well, through parks, access to social events and activities, everyday groceries etc. The base for developing a positive ageing precinct is present in Summerhill, just needs to be polished through monitored actions and a clear vision. The themes for actions in this plan follow the above guidelines and have been selected as ‘Health’, ‘Participation’, and ‘Security’ to ensure all areas of positive ageing are well considered and addressed.

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C on s u l t i n g ou r commu n i t y Post understanding the need for a positive ageing strategy for Summerhill, the community was consulted through a series of engagement sessions which aimed to empower the target residents of this report. The existing engagement and consultation report by City of Darebin included in the Age Friendly Darebin Report 2019 (Galbally and Allen, 2019) included engagement activities such as pop ups, focus groups and panel responses with multiple stakeholders. Through the activities, the report found that the stakeholders expressed lack of security, unfriendly design of technology, greater need for outdoor activities, varying hours of services and knowledge of support widely available (Galbally and Allen, 2019).

M od e l of P u bl i c P a r t i ci p a t i on

E mp ower

C ol l a bor a t e Figure 5. IAP2 Model of Public Participation. (IAP2, 2019)

Using the existing report as a baseline, a new set of engagement activities were conducted for this report utilising ‘Collaborate’ and ‘Empower’ from the IAP2 Model of Public Participation as seen in Figure 5. To build on from the previous engagement report, it was important to address different accessibility needs of residents, especially the elderly ones and ask question such as – can elderly people come into an invited participation space on their own? Therefore, the engagement activities to partner with the public were conducted by consultants who took their time to visit the residents of aged care centres and ensured safe, accessible environment for participation.

Various language needs of residents were taken into consideration, especially to ensure comfortable participation of CALD communities. The results of this engagement process resulted in the formation of the vision and strategic goals for this strategic plan.

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O ur Vi s i on Summerhill is a precinct that celebrates a growing ageing population and ensures a positive ageing experience for its residents through actions that enhance physical and mental health, stimulate the residents socially and encourage active participation.

S t ra t egi c G oa l s 1 Improve walking network to ensure areas of rest, safety and social interaction

3 Encourage active participation in public processes, especially for CALD and Indigenous elderly population

2 Increase accessibility to key everyday services through public and community transport

4 Improve availability of accessible community services, volunteer/part time work

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A ct i on pl a n Security

Participation

Health Introduce a safe walking connection between Summerhill Resident Park and Summerhill SC 1 Attach street furniture for rest according to Australian Standards 1428.2: Design for Access and Mobility in all public parks and on major walking paths.

(Street Furniture Australia, 2019) 2 Improve bus stop design to incorporate seating arrangements during wait times 3 Work with Department of Transport on aligning bus and tram timings for efficient public transport use

Introduce community bus services running half hourly during daytime and available upon call at nighttime going to community centres or shopping centres 5 Develop empty retail strip on Creville Street into community centre activities including gardening, volunteer work, social spaces.

Located on the existing bus route and closer to Summerhill SC than existing community centre.

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Identify pockets of disadvantaged areas and ensure public participation and engagement processes are actively provided to them.

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Introduce bi-weekly technology classes in community centres, shopping centres or outdoors for elderly residents to understand online banking, avoiding scams and ensuring online security (Nassir et al., 2015).

8 Implement fallprevention and accident prevention design in public spaces 9 Community advocacy to address elder abuse in aged care and in private homes Human Rights Watch (2021) talks about the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and what can be done to ensure safety of elderly residents.

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A ct i on pl a n Implementation Actions

Short 0-3 years

Medium 4-7 years

Long 8-10 years

Budget

Monitoring and Evaluation summary

(detailed in the next section)

Health 1. Introduce a safe walking connection between Summerhill Resident Park and Summerhill SC

S

Low

2.Attach street furniture for rest according to Australian Standards 1428.2: Design for Access and Mobility in all public parks and on major walking paths (Street Furniture Australia, 2019)

L

3. Improve bus stop design to incorporate seating arrangements during wait times

M

4. Work with Department of Transport on aligning bus and tram timings for efficient public transport use

Med

Med

L

High

• Evaluate the plan every 3 years to monitor the progress of each action.

• Data management: collect transportation data, walking data and analyse to measure improvement in public transport use using 2021 census data as baseline • Ensure alignment with Department of Transport goals

Participation 5. Introduce community bus services running half hourly during daytime and available upon call at nighttime going to community centres or shopping centres

M

6. Develop empty retail strip on Creville Street into community centre activities including gardening, volunteer work, social spaces.

Med

M

7. Identify pockets of disadvantaged areas and ensure public participation and engagement processes are actively provided to them.

L

• Evaluate the plan every 3 years to monitor the progress of each action.

High

• Consistent consultation with small committee representing disadvantaged population for feedback

Med

• Engagement with community bus passengers at stops to gain general consensus on the progress

Low

• Evaluate the plan every 3 years to monitor the progress of each action for quality checks and ensuring the action is being implemented

Security 8. Introduce bi-weekly technology classes in community centres, shopping centres or outdoors for elderly residents to understand online banking, avoiding scams and ensuring online security (Nassir et al., 2015).

S

9. Implement fall-prevention and accident prevention design in public spaces 10. Community advocacy to address elder abuse in aged care and in private homes.

- Human Rights Watch (2021) talks about

the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and what can be done to ensure safety of elderly residents.

L

S

Med

Med

• Regular consultation with an advisory committee regarding community advocacy for elder abuse • Gather community views during IT programs 10

M on i t or i n g & E va l u a t i on Monitoring and evaluation of an action plan within this strategic plan is a key element to ensure the actions are being implemented to their highest capability and the goals set out previously in this report are being achieved (Quyen et al., 2018). Quyen et al (2018 p.88) recognises that an efficient and effective monitoring and evaluation framework should be able to “actualise the plan, test and incorporate feedback for good performance”. Further than gaining feedback on the plan, a monitoring and evaluation framework can help analyse whether the implementation plan is on track and whether the actions are being achieved in their assigned time frame, or if there is a need to adjust time frames and the impact on the budget (The Cities Alliance, 2005).

To measure the effect of a transport policy such as the public transport and walking actions within the Health theme, it is necessary to collect relevant transport data to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy quantitatively (Quyen et al., 2018). Using the baseline for data at 2021 when the Census results are released, any future transport data analysis for the action plan may compare that data to 2021, also aligning with the starting period of this strategic plan.

It is also important to ensure that not all monitoring and evaluation plans are purely numerical analysis. Therefore, community consultations with small committees representing the relevant stakeholders would help evaluate whether the policy is effective in achieving the overall objectives. As the process of implementing a strategic plan is continuous, it is essential that monitoring of the plan is also regular and consistent.

Evaluating the actions every 3 years to monitor the progress of each action would ensure the policy makers are held accountable and that the plan is running on track. 3 years is set to cover the ‘short term’ actions, evaluate whether they have been achieved and if they haven’t, critically review why it is so and take further action to ensure that the action is implemented in the ‘medium term’ frame. Reviewing the budget regularly will also aid the evaluation of the plan.

Monitoring and evaluating this strategy will also assist in making sure that the impact of this plan aligns with other relevant strategies at local level and with the overall metro and state goals and objectives.

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S t r a t egy a l i gn men t Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 The Positive Ageing Strategy aligns with Plan Melbourne with the goal of encouraging walkable cities. Plan Melbourne proposed the 20 minute neighbourhood plan to encourage development of accessible and walkable infrastructure within an 800m radius of a precinct. The existing site conditions covered previously in this report indicate poor walkability and highlight the need for better walking infrastructure to ensure safety of elderly residents by providing inner street pathways, street furniture and social infrastructure available at multiple points along the precinct.

Darebin Council Plan 2021-2025 This strategy aims to align with the new Darebin Council Plan for 2021-2025 as they both embark on a new set of actions and implementation. The council plan will be crucial in monitoring the progress of the Positive Ageing Strategy as the annual progress reports from the council action plan will set benchmarks for this strategy. Assisting with time frames, budgets and evaluation, it will be important to make sure that the impact of this strategy is running positively alongside achieving goals of the Council Plan.

Existing Darebin Ageing Strategy This strategy is following on from the existing ageing strategy while taking into consideration multiple aspects which were not previously prioritised. It is important to make note that effects of the existing ageing strategy will be felt during implementation of this strategy.

Community engagement and consultation reports, open space strategy and public transport strategy While this strategy does not explicitly align with the open space strategy and public transport strategy, it is necessary to create a general cohesiveness between the local level plans as many of the actions proposed in this strategy overlap into other areas of expertise. Collaboration between departments would follow accordingly to overall meet the goals and objectives set out in the council plan.

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C on cl u s i on As the ageing population is set to grow metropolitan areas, it is necessary for new strategic plans to reflect the difficulties that come with restricting mobility, access, safety and physical and mental health of elderly residents. The site and demographic analysis showed that Summerhill houses a large elderly population with multiple aged care facilities currently occupying vast areas of the precinct. Therefore, the need for a relevant ageing strategy, following the completion of the previous Darebin Ageing Strategy, was imminent. While limitations included that data available to conduct an analysis was largely available for the general Darebin area or for East Preston and East Reservoir, this strategy plan has aimed to target the key requirements for the elderly population of now and the future.

Building on existing literature and frameworks for building elderly friendly cities, this plan focused on 3 overarching themes of Health, Participation and Security, covering physical and mental health, socialising opportunities and safety needs that elderly residents put forward through community consultation. The 3 themes set precedence for the vision and strategic goals and the specific actions ensured to bring measurable, flexible and diverse actions that engaged multiple relevant stakeholders to achieve the strategic goals for Summerhill’s ageing population.

Monitoring and evaluation plan of this strategy was a critical consideration to ensure that the plan is on track, progressing well and taking further actions to resolve any issues brought up during detailed evaluation every 3 years.

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Ref er en ces Australia: Urgently Address Aged Care Abuse. (2021, March 2). Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/03/australia-urgently-address-aged-care-abuse Darebin City Council. (2011). Darebin Active and Healthy Ageing Strategy 2011 – 2021. https://www.darebin.vic.gov.au/About-Council/Councillors-and-meetings/Governance-andtransparency/Community-Advisory-committees/Active-and-Healthy-Ageing-AdvisoryCommittee Darebin City Council. (2021). Council Plan 2021-2025. https://www.darebin.vic.gov.au/aboutcouncil/council-structure-and-performance/council-plan Darebin City Council. (2019). Darebin Community and Engagement Policy. https://www.yoursaydarebin.com.au/communityengagementpolicy Dalvi, S., Lan, X., and Yu, W. (2021). Summerhill Policy Analysis Report. Submitted to University of Melbourne.

Galbally, R. and Allen, P. (2019). Age Friendly Darebin Final Report Executive Summary July 2019. https://www.yoursaydarebin.com.au/ Kendig, H., Elias, A.-M., Matwijiw, P., & Anstey, K. (2014). Developing Age-Friendly Cities and Communities in Australia. Journal of Aging and Health, 26(8), 1390–1414. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264314532687 Street Furniture Australia. (2019). How to Apply DDA to Street Furniture: Seats and Tables. https://streetfurniture.com/how-to-apply-dda-to-street-furniture-seats-and-tables/ International Association for Public Participation. (2018). IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation. https://iap2.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2018_IAP2_Spectrum.pdf Nassir, S., Leong, T. W., & Robertson, T. (2015). Positive Ageing: Elements and Factors for Design. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Australian Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction, 264–268. https://doi.org/10.1145/2838739.2838796 Quyen, T., Matsushima, K., Kobayashi, K., & Nguyen, T. (2018). Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation System for Urban Planning: –The Case of the Hanoi Master Plan. 5, 87–110. https://doi.org/10.14398/urpr.5.87 The Cities Alliance. (2005). Guidance Framework: Integrating Monitoring & Evaluation into City Development Strategies. https://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/default/files/cds-me-guidanceframework-august-11-2005%5B1%5D.pdf

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