Stop bashing the suburbs: Mobility limitations of older residents are less relevant as connectivity options expand

Dwellings occupied by mobility-limited older people emerge as strong control centers and more age-friendly places

The future will witness the substantial worldwide growth of older people with functional limitations or disabilities who have difficulties leaving their dwellings and traveling to their neighborhoods or other community destinations to realize their obligatory and discretionary needs and goals. This commentary offers conceptual arguments and literature findings proposing that the dwellings of this vulnerable population deserve new scrutiny because they have become more salient and positively experienced places to live where their occupants can maintain their independence and age in place. The catalyst for this commentary is the emergence of gerontechnological innovations relying on digital and sensor technologies, offering these older occupants a new category of dwelling connectivity solutions-constituting a paradigm shift-whereby goods, care, services, social supports, and information and leisure activities can be delivered to their houses and apartments. Incorporating this technological component has transformed their dwellings into dynamic "control centers," connecting their occupants in real-time with the resources and activities offered in other places. These solutions enable older people to cope more effectively with declines and losses because their ability to live independently is less threatened by challenges they face accessing destinations with inadequate transportation options and less age-friendly land use or physical design features. By occupying more supportive, safer, and connected dwellings, these older people have overall more positive and salient residential mastery emotional experiences and feel more competent and in control of their lives and environment. Planning or policy recommendations directed to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its age-friendly city/community agenda follow from its conclusions. They highlight how dwelling environments containing gerontechnological solutions are becoming more critical influences of "active aging." The commentary recommends that WHO allocates more resources to dwelling interventions that increase the awareness, availability, usability, and acceptability of these gerontechnological solutions, thus reducing the disincentives for older people to be adopters.

Place Attachment and Aging in Place: Preferences and Disruptions

This paper examines the links between place attachment and older persons' preferences to age in place, and factors that disrupt these preferences. We use data from the 2001-2021 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and panel-data modelling to confirm strong associations between several place attachment dimensions and aging-in-place preferences. Strong ties to children, strong social capital, residence in social housing, homeownership status, housing wealth, and home and neighborhood satisfaction are all positively linked to a stronger preference to age in place. Our findings reveal important differences between older homeowners and older non-owners. For owners, closeness to children is a strong predictor of aging-in-place preferences, although mortgage debt can trigger involuntary moves. For non-owners, tenure security achieved through longer durations at one's address of residence is linked to stronger aging-in-place preferences. However, private renters are more often exposed to involuntary moves. We discuss the policy implications of these disruptions.

Transportation Planning for Older Americans: Challenges, Federal Policies, and Next Steps

With the rapidly increasing number of older people, vehicle dependence in countries like the U.S. poses many challenges for transportation planning. Vehicle dependence among most Americans has substantial environmental, safety, and equity implications, and it excludes those with limited ability to drive from participating in many everyday social activities. Also, an age-based digital divide weakens the potential role of transportation technologies and information and communication technologies in reducing travel difficulties for older people. Nevertheless, current federal policies do not sufficiently address the transportation challenges facing an aging population. This paper provides an agenda for sustainable and equitable transportation in an aging society through various modes of transportation and enhanced interagency coordination and collaboration.

Transport, Mobility and the Wellbeing of Older Adults: An Exploration of Private Chauffeuring and Companionship Services in Malaysia

As physical abilities and health decline with age, older adults tend to lose their driving abilities, which affects their mobility. As mobility is important to older adults' wellbeing, there is a need to explore alternative modes of transportation to increase their ability to actively participate in society. Hence, this paper aims to understand the characteristics of private chauffeuring and companionship services for older adults, and to assess their possible effects on older adults' wellbeing. We gathered the views of transport operators, government agencies, and city councils that offer private chauffeuring and companionship services for older adults. We frame the model of private chauffeuring and companionship services as alternative mobility for older adults and outline a conceptual framework for its possible effects on their wellbeing. The underlying mobility characteristics were availability, accessibility, safety, and affordability-all of which influence wellbeing. The study found that the private chauffeuring and companionship model for older adults includes an additional model of government-to-consumer services in addition to the existing peer-to-peer and business-to-consumer services. While the services are available, the services provided are not standardized, with different operators offering different services and prices, and limiting certain geographical areas. Transport operators perceived that the services they offer promote older adults' physical and mental health, improve their social participation in the community, and empower them in making their travel decisions. The findings of the paper provide insights for policy makers for future planning of alternative transportation for older adults to enhance their mobility.

Aspects of ICT connectivity among older adults living in rural subsidized housing: reassessing the digital divide

Purpose

This article examines aspects of information communication technology (ICT) connectivity among the understudied population of low-income older adults living in rural and peri-urban subsidized housing. We aim to investigate if variations exist in access and connectivity when economic and housing conditions are constant and use data from northern New England.

Design/methodology/approach

The multidisciplinary, mixed-methods approach involved administering structured surveys using iPads with senior residents (n = 91) from five housing sites, qualitative observations by field researchers and an ecological assessment of ICT resources at housing, community and state levels.

Findings

All subsidized housing sites were broadband accessible and nearby libraries. Fewer sites had Wi-Fi freely available to residents, and individual residents disparately accessed the Internet. Age and education demonstrably influenced ICT use of social media and email. Technology in the form of iPads used for surveys posed functional challenges for some older adults, but these technology-mediated interactions were also perceived as important sites of sociability.

Originality/value

Older adults disparately access and use ICT relative to socioeconomic status even as housing conditions remain constant, and access and use influences frequency of social connections with friends and family. The findings reveal factors that contribute to the existing digital divide facing older adults and broader lack of digital equity.

Ageing as well as you can in place: Applying a geographical lens to the capability approach

Despite policy commitments to support ageing in place, we know very little about the everyday realities and experiences of older people living in different environmental circumstances, with varying personal capabilities. This paper: 1) examines the valued place-based functionings of older people through the use of geo-spatial and in-situ methods, where functionings are defined as states of being and doing, and place-based functionings are defined as places, activities, interactions, routes, and routines that support these beings and doings; and 2) demonstrates the utility of a capability approach by amalgamating the interconnected concepts 'ageing in place' and 'ageing well'. Three in-depth individual experiences of ageing at home in a Dublin (Ireland) suburb show how differing health and mobility challenges are managed, and illustrate how conceptions of ageing well in place can be identified from geographically-grounded lifeworlds. Participants' place-based functionings are identified by combining qualitative and geo-spatial approaches through the use of annotated maps, using data obtained from traditional interviews, go-along interviews, and mapping exercises. Results demonstrate the diversity of place-based functionings valued by each individual, and how functionings are negotiated depending on different needs, wishes, and health or mobility challenges. Results also highlight the importance of supportive environments and social supports in enabling older people to realise their most valued functionings over time, which include being able to get out and about, engage and connect with others, carry out daily tasks and errands confidently, and remain independent. By paying attention to subjectively valued place-based functionings, as well as the specific supports required to sustain them, we can facilitate older people to not just age in place, or age well, but to age - as well as they can - in place.