As observed in several other metropolitan peripheries in Europe, Cascais’ - a municipality in Lisbon's metropolitan area - unprecedented demographic change poses unparalleled challenges to the public administration. At the municipalities’ request a participatory action research project was undertaken to produce a diagnostic, a strategy and an action plan for ageing, old-age, and social policies. Using the lenses of critical gerontology, this paper aims to describe the protocol applied in Cascais and its preliminary findings. Data was collected from 12 out of 18 workshops conducted with 6 ´reference groups’, between February and April-2022. The number of participants in each reference group ranged from 5 to 14 (n=53). This paper reports on three main data sources, (i) a paper-based inquiry, distributed before each session, (ii) notes from the research team, and (iv) a transcription of the audio recorded (with an average duration of 1,5h). The main topic for the workshops 1 and 2 were ageism and the age-friendly framework in the context of Cascais, respectively. When asked if they ever felt discriminated against due to his or her age, 68% (36) replied no. There was a significant change when the participants were asked about witnessing age discrimination, 58% (31) replied yes. Despite a general acknowledgment of diversity in ageing and disapproval of ableism, most participants continued to negatively associate ageing to disability and dependence. The Cascais Protocol proved to be useful to expand the boundaries of ageing policies, but its replicability potential remains unclear.

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action research,active ageing,ageism

This publication is an output of the following project(s):

• Study, strategy and plan on aging: old age and social policies in the municipality of Cascais