SMART CITY FOR AND BY SENIOR CITIZENS

Digital services and information offerings: What is taken for granted and part of everyday life for young people can be a hurdle for older people. How can this target group still be enabled to use as many digital offerings as possible and better navigate the digital world? Support is provided by Seniorennetz Berlin – a measure in the cooperation project "Berlin – A Smart City for and by Senior Citizens" within the framework of the state strategy "Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin (GD:B)".

Increasing digitization brings advantages for many people but is often associated with limitations, especially for older people. Whether it's a doctor's appointment or the next travel booking – fewer and fewer matters can be handled analogously. As a result, older people are at risk of being excluded from social participation. Seniorennetz Berlin has been supporting older people for five years in better navigating an increasingly digital world and trying out digital technology with low barriers. The network's vision: to convince Berlin's senior citizens as comprehensively as possible of the opportunities of digitization, enable them to use it, and thus ensure social participation for all.

Seniorennetz Berlin: Digital Participation for Older People

Thanks to funding from the Senate Chancellery the platform Seniorennetz.Berlin was participatively further developed with older people in 2024. Senior citizens find valuable information here – against loneliness and for the small budget. For example, a comprehensive overview of mostly free events such as coffee drinking, yoga, handicrafts, language courses, or digital cafés, a search for places and events near their place of residence, police notices, emergency numbers, and other service offerings, as well as courses, appointments, and materials on the topic of digital learning – also for use at home. Berlin institutions with senior-specific offerings, as well as the senior citizens themselves, can directly suggest entries via the platform. These are then editorially reviewed and translated into understandable language before publication. Seniorennetz.Berlin is user-friendly and barrier-free and can therefore be used easily even with little digital knowledge. The content is available in the following languages: German, English, Russian, Turkish, and Arabic.

Seniorennetz Berlin was launched at the end of 2023 as a project of the Berlin digitization strategy. As an offering of the AWO Landesverband Berlin e.V., it is financed by the Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health and Long-Term Care with the "Infotelefon – Digital Participation of Older People" (Silbernetz e. V.) and the Digital Zebra (Public Digital Consulting Service of the Berlin Libraries), Seniorennetz Berlin was included by the Senate Chancellery as an official measure in the state strategy "Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin (GD:B)" under the name "Berlin – A Smart City for and by Senior Citizens". Together, the three projects work to break down barriers to enable all older people in Berlin to participate digitally and thus ultimately socially. Berlin is the first federal state with a comprehensive digital strategy including older people.

www.seniorennetz.berlin