A Aging in Place Gail Low 1 , Sofia von Humboldt 2 , Mary Kalfoss 3 , Donna M. Wilson 1 and Isabel Leal 2 1 Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada 2 William James Center for Research, ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal 3 Faculty of Health Sciences, VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway Synonyms Age-friendly environments; Attachment to place; Insideness; Intrinsic capacity; Staying put Definition To age in place means to grow old in one’ s own home rather than in an institution such as a nurs- ing home or assisted living facility (Abramsson and Andersson 2016; Schorr and Khalaila 2018). Ideally, this is also in a long-term family home (Barrett et al. 2012), in their similar neighbor- hoods and broader communities (Kim et al. 2017). Aging in place is also about being able to live independently (Schorr and Khalaila 2018). More specifically, aging in place is the ability of older people to live in their own homes and com- munities safely, autonomously, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or functional limitations (World Health Organization 2017). To age in place is therefore to “stay put” in one’ s home and community (Wiles et al. 2012, 2017). As Thang and Hong (2015) point out, aging in place is growing old in the home, community, and environment that one is familiar with, with mini- mal change or disruption to one’ s life and thus also one’ s activities. Broadly speaking, to age in place is to continue to live in the same “place” as always (Lofqvist et al. 2013). Overview Attachment to Place There has been a significant amount of cross- sectional research done on the attachment to place, particularly in relation to one’ s own home. Home is a place where familiar routines and habits are enacted (Bostrom et al. 2017; Coleman et al. 2016; Granbom et al. 2014; Lindley and Wallace 2015; Roy et al. 2018). Personal possessions in public display (Cristoforetti et al. 2011; Lindley and Wallace 2015; Shen and Perry 2016) and familiar smells and sounds (Board and McCormack 2018) bring a sense of comfort, con- trol, and security. A home is where memories are built and shared that forge connections between past and present selves (Degnen 2016; Stones and Gullifer 2016). A home is thus an autobiographi- cal symbol of who we were and who we have become (Rowles 1993). Private home spaces pro- vide opportunities for quiet reflection on one’ s © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 D. Gu, M. E. Dupre (eds.), Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_72-2