ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to one's conceptual understanding of the realities of ageing in place. It outlines an emotion-based theory to judge whether older adults feel they occupy residential environments congruent with their needs and goals and explains why they do not always depend on moving as a strategy to cope with their residential and care deficiencies and challenges. Researchers have relied on two theoretical models from geography and gerontology to explain why older people move from their dwellings or age in place: Wiseman's behavioural model and Litwak and Longino's developmental model. Wiseman argues that residential relocation occurs when older people are dissatisfied with their residences. He proposes that older individuals re-evaluate the desirability of where they live because of push and pull "triggering mechanisms". Both these theories contribute to our understanding of the relocation reasoning of older people. Human development theorists tell us that ageing successfully also is determined by how effectively older people cope with adversity.
