The Changing Geographies of Ageing and Age Mixing Across Urban–Rural Areas in Scotland, 2011–2022

ABSTRACT Like other high‐income countries, Scotland is experiencing rapid population ageing, with evidence of spatial polarisation of age groups. This study uses the Scottish Censuses of 2011 and 2022 to understand patterns and trends in the geographies of ageing and age mixing. With attention to urban‐rural differences, we examined, at the Data Zone (neighbourhood) level, spatial age segregation and age mixing using the Dissimilarity Index, cumulative proportion calculations, Simpson's Diversity Index and Global and Local Moran's I. This paper contributes new findings on the spatial and temporal patterns of ageing and age mixing in Scotland, with relevance for broader debates on health and social care provision, housing accessibility and equity, and population sustainability. First, it illustrates the stark sub‐national variation in geographies of age segregation; second, it demonstrates the value of an analytical and interpretive framework using concepts of urban hierarchy; third, it causes us to rethink typical understandings of ageing and the urban hierarchy. In particular, the analyses reveal high age segregation and low age diversity in urban areas together with the potential polarisation of older‐ and younger‐age areas in some parts of cities; stable age mixing in rural areas (but with decreasing age diversity); and accessible (town and rural) neighbourhoods exhibiting both increasing age segregation and diversity and acting as the lynchpin for understanding the local dynamics of age mixing over the last decade. Attention to spatial nuance also reveals that change in age diversity is spatially clustered. The paper raises questions about the demographic dynamics and social meaning implied by spatially‐varied age mixing, with implications for population and community planning in Scotland and elsewhere.