Senior Explorers of Urban Environments (SEE U) is helping older adults reconnect with their neighbourhoods through digital inclusion and local engagement. At the heart of the project is a co-created mobile app that allows seniors to design and share walking routes in their local areas. These personalised tours, created by older residents themselves, highlight meaningful places and stories, turning neighbourhoods into spaces of discovery and connection. By combining digital tools with community participation, SEE U promotes active ageing, digital empowerment, and age-friendly urban spaces. This cross-country initiative brings together organisations from Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and AGE Platform Europe to ensure that technology serves older people in accessible and meaningful ways.

The Challenge

Many older adults across Europe face a dual challenge of social exclusion and digital marginalisation. Despite growing digitisation in urban environments, seniors often encounter barriers due to complex technology interfaces, lack of confidence, or absence of tailored training. This digital divide not only limits their access to services but also hinders their ability to engage fully with their communities. Urban spaces, while increasingly smart and connected, risk becoming less inclusive for older populations without specific efforts to bridge this gap.

The Solution

SEE U adopted a participatory and inclusive approach to empower older adults through digital tools and urban exploration:

•    Co-created digital tool: The project developed a mobile application that enables older people to create and guide walking tours through their neighbourhoods, turning them into local explorers and digital storytellers.
•    Inclusive training approach: Through co-creation workshops, seniors were involved in the design and testing of the app. The learning programme was shaped around individual needs, applying a low threshold learning model tailored to varying digital abilities.
•    User-friendly design: The application was specifically created to be intuitive and accessible, ensuring that it could be confidently used by individuals with little or no prior digital experience.

Impact and Success

SEE U has demonstrated the potential of inclusive technology in improving older people’s connection with their environment and their digital confidence:

•    Empowered older adults: Participants took on active roles as local guides, sharing their knowledge of urban spaces while learning to use digital tools effectively.
•    Strengthened community ties: The tours enabled intergenerational dialogue and community storytelling, fostering a sense of belonging and cultural continuity.
•    Increased digital confidence: The tailored training process helped older participants feel more comfortable with technology, enhancing their ability to navigate a digital world.
•    Replicable model: The participatory, low threshold design can be adapted for other communities, offering a pathway to digital inclusion across Europe.

Conclusion

The SEE U project shows how urban environments can become more inclusive when older adults are empowered through accessible technology and community engagement. By combining digital skills training with local storytelling, the initiative bridges generational divides and strengthens the social fabric of neighbourhoods. SEE U stands as a best practice in integrating digital inclusion into urban life making smart cities more human, connected, and age friendly.