AGORage
The AGORAge - Aging in a caring community project was set up with the aim of fostering the inclusion of elderly persons residing in care facilities in the territory within which they are located. The project thus acts as much to counter isolation as to reflect and work on the construction of a community that knows how to take care of itself and its members, thus also problematising controversial but topical issues related to ageism and the social role of the elderly person.
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A particularly innovative element of AGORAge is the citizen science inspired approach at its root. Indeed, older people will be the protagonists of the project, being involved both in the research phase, with the aim of defining and reflecting on the elements that can contribute to making the territory inclusive and welcoming for the elderly citizen, and in the operational phase, i.e. in the conception and implementation of some good practices for the same purpose. They will also contribute to the creation of a toolkit containing a series of analytical and operational tools that can be adopted by other realities interested in acting on these issues.
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AGORAge is one of the five new pilots funded under the H2020 COESO - connecting research and society project whose mission is to support citizen participation in scientific research in the social sciences and humanities through the promotion of citizen science projects. COESO, which sees the testing of this approach in 10 pilots across Europe, is thus an attempt to build a bridge between scientific research, society and social innovation in Europe.
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The Italian pilot site on which AGORAge will be implemented sees the collaboration between ISRAA and Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona, specifically with the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work and the Medical Anthropology Research Centre-MARC. Due to the actions already carried out in the past on these fronts and the long-cultivated objective of keeping alive a dialogue and exchange with the territory on which they are located, some of the residents at Casa Albergo Salce, Borgo Mazzini Smart Cohousing and the Mini Alloggi will be involved in the activities.