Introduction

Society has reached a historical period in the demographic profile of the population, bringing into focus a need to prepare nations to support ageing and older people. Although Lawton (1980) stated that a decent environment is a right requiring no empirical justification (see quote above), social policy and social change needs to be driven by a better understanding of what constitutes a ‘decent’ environment in which older people are committed to ageing in place. Environmental gerontology can and must play a role in the supply of knowledge to inform the health and well-being of older people and ensure that policy and practice is driven by a strong evidence base.

This chapter reviews the stock of empirical data on the person–environmental fit over the last 40 years. Key conceptual theories and empirical data, such as M. Powell Lawton's (1980, 1982, 1990) Ecological Model of Ageing and Rowles’ (1978, 1980, 1983a, 1993) concept of ‘insideness’ are examined as to their contribution to our understanding of environmental gerontology. Connected to this, the chapter explores the concepts of ‘ageing in place’ and ‘place in ageing’ as they contribute to current debate and a wider policy agenda around ‘staying put’. Importantly, this chapter discusses recent criticisms and shortfalls in scientific knowledge related to person–environment fit.

Over the last half-century, researchers have generated a wealth of data and developed a range of theoretical concepts and frameworks relating to the relationship between the ‘ageing person’ and the ‘environment’. This relationship is seen as pluralistic, encompassing numerous disciplines, mixed methodological approaches and empirical findings (Wahl and Weisman, 2003; Scheidt and Windley, 2006), and hence has no uniform theoretical and methodological approach (Kendig, 2003); this provides both opportunities and challenges for understanding ageing and the environment. A variety of academic disciplines have in some form been interested in understanding the person–environment relationship. Given the enormity of this literature, the focus of this present literature review is largely on gerontological research that informs the dual concepts of ‘ageing in place’ and ‘place in ageing’ as this relates to understanding the relationship between the person and their environment.