My book was published in May 2021 with UCL Press, open-access, as part of the UCL ASSA project. In the book I discuss how ageing with smartphones in this contemporary urban Italian context is about living with ambiguity, change and contradiction, as well as developing curiosities about a changing world, our changing selves, and changing … More New book: Ageing with Smartphones in Urban Italy: Care and Community in Milan and Beyond (2021) published by UCL Press

By Shireen Walton, March 2020, originally post here The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the lives of people across the world, with Italy currently experiencing among the severest consequences of the virus. Between 2018 and 2019, I conducted 16 months of fieldwork in Milan, where I had been studying issues of digital social participation, care … More Social Distancing Vs. Digital Social Participation in Milan: Notes from fieldwork and during COVID-19 lockdown

The last decade has witnessed the rise of the Smart City. Smart Cities, as they are broadly conceived, encapsulate the increasing embedding of technology into the urban infrastructures of cities across the globe[i]. The smart city concept can best be understood as a constellation of features and potentials made up of big data, algorithmic governance … More Milano Smart City: from above, below, and beyond

Social participation is among the most significant factors linked to health and wellbeing later in life. As a variety of studies have shown, loneliness (both social and emotional [i]) is one of the most pressing issues of ageing. Individuals, of all ages and backgrounds seek roles, a sense of belonging and purpose, but these needs becomes … More Digital Social Participation – post-fieldwork blog post with the ASSA project [Sept 2019]

Last week during one of the women’s group activities at the Multicultural Centre I have been regularly attending in Milan I was asked if I could take a photo for one of the Italian women, Maria, in her early 70s, who volunteers at the Centre three days per week. Maria had just been found on … More Smartphones: ‘addictions’ and connections – fieldwork blog post [May 2019]

Among the themes that have emerged from my research on ageing in Milan over the last 14 months, relationships between women and their Mothers have been particularly prominent. I have been exploring the significance of physical proximity, distance, and smartphones in examining how caring is enacted in these relationships, amongst women of different ages and … More Mothers and Daughters in Milan & beyond – fieldwork blogpost with ASSA project [March 2019]

Link to this post on the ASSA blog Books about ageing are currently in the spotlight. As discussed by Daniel Miller in an earlier blog post from February 2018, philosopher Kieran Setiya has looked at mid-life, from theoretical and practical perspectives. Another more recent work comes from journalist and author Carl Honoré, who in (B)older: … More Ageing Actively in Focus – fieldwork blogpost [January 2019] as part of the ASSA project

Fieldwork blog post, November 2018 In Italian, the word fare, means to do and to make. Doing and making appears to be a fundamental aspect of community life here in this inner-city neighbourhood in Milan’s zone 2, which constitutes the locus of my fieldwork. A number of activities, events and organisations I am involved in … More Fare insieme: making and doing things together in Milan – fieldwork blog post [November 2018] as part of the ASSA project

One of the key features of living in Milan are the characteristic apartment buildings (pictured below). Built in the early 20th century, these buildings, known as ‘palazzo’ (palazzi pl.), have housed generations of families, groups and individuals over the decades; Italian and non-Italian, working and middle-class. Photos (CC BY) Shireen Walton, Milan, Italy 2018 Living … More Living alone vs. loneliness: Notes from a Milanese neighbourhood – fieldwork blog post [Sept 2018] as part of the ASSA project