Ageing, Adaptation, and Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene: Insights from Nairobi and Dhaka Slums

This paper presents an innovative approach to understanding the lived experiences of older adults in Nairobi and Dhaka's slums amidst environmental change and social precarity. In the Anthropocene, where urbanization and climate challenges reshape the lives of vulnerable populations, this study focuses on how elderly slum residents perceive their environment, form attachments to place, and develop strategies to cope and adapt to their complex surroundings.

Adopting a mixed-methods approach, which includes ethnographic fieldwork and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) techniques, this research foregrounds the voices and experiences of ageing individuals. The study provides a novel perspective by examining how their diverse life trajectories—ranging from long-term residents to recent migrants—shape adaptive practices that foster social resilience in urban spaces marked by environmental fragility. It uncovers how mobility and immobility intersect with ageing, creating unique challenges and opportunities for older slum residents to navigate daily life in highly dynamic environments.

By revealing how elderly residents negotiate the habitability of slums, this research advances our understanding of social and environmental justice in the Anthropocene. It challenges dominant narratives that often overlook the agency and resilience of older individuals, providing new insights into how ageing populations contribute to, and are affected by, rapidly changing social and urban landscapes.