Navigating Rural-to-Urban Transitions: The Continuity of Ageing among Resettled Older Adults in Yulin, China

This study examines how older adults from rural Yulin, China, navigate their transition to urban life after policy-driven resettlement. They employ various strategies to bridge their rural past with their urban present: internal continuity (preserving rural identities, values and traditions) and external continuity (recreating familiar spaces and social networks in the new urban environment). Our findings reveal that resettled older adults' experiences transcend simple binaries of past versus present or rural versus urban. Ruralisation emerges as neither resistance to urbanism nor mere acceptance of rurality, but as an adaptive process of weaving together multiple temporalities and spatialities. This research advances the ageing-in-place literature by demonstrating older adults' agency in navigating environmental and social transitions, challenging their portrayal as passive victims of displacement. The study emphasises how identity maintenance and cultural preservation are crucial for ageing in place, offering insights into policies and practices that manage rural-to-urban transitions for ageing populations.