<i>Ageing in networks</i> : living alone but connected

Abstract While ageing in place emphasises autonomy and the preference of older adults to remain in familiar environments, and ageing and place shifts attention to their movement across multiple locations, both frameworks have paid insufficient attention to the role of social networks in shaping the spatial practices of ageing. In this article, we propose ageing in networks as a complementary approach that foregrounds relationality. Rather than supplanting place-based models, ageing in networks highlights how older adults navigate spaces—both near and far—through their social ties, and how these ties mediate access to emotional and practical support. Drawing on original survey data from 1,199 residents aged 60–92 in two Singaporean public housing areas (Hougang and Taman Jurong), we examine how older adults mobilise both strong and weak ties—including friends, co-workers, and digitally mediated contacts—across everyday sites such as hawker centres, markets, malls, and churches. These connections often span neighbourhoods, suggesting that older adults are not merely attached to their residential areas but are actively sustaining dispersed, networked geographies of care and companionship. Crucially, we find that expansive social ties can buffer the challenges of living alone. We argue that social isolation , more than spatial isolation , poses the greater risk to older adults’ well-being.