Older adults car users and pedestrians in urban environment: subjective perceptions and satisfaction in relation to quality of life
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| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The paper presented is based on the results of the project “Ageing in the environment: regeneration, gentrification and social exclusion as new issues in environmental gerontology” carried out in 2010 – 2012 in 14 biggest cities in the Czech Republic (survey N = 1921; project presentation at http://starnuti.fss.muni.cz). The project brought answers to research questions on how seniors residing in urban centres interpret the urban environment, contemporary urban processes, and ageing and old age, and how they maintain control over their situation given their state of health, their physical performance, their financial resources, and the specific spatial resources of urban neighbourhoods. In our paper we will look more closely on the issue of mobility in higher age in urban environment, and more specifically on older drivers. In the presentation we describe the basic characteristics of older drivers and ask the question what role has the driving ability on different aspects of the quality of life in higher age in the context of big Czech cities. Our results confirm previous studies showing great gender and educational inequalities both in having a driver’s license and continuation of driving into higher age. Therefore we further test the influence of (non)driving on general well being and intensity of activities, as well as on more environmental indicators such as place attachment. In addition, an overview of the most significant environmental barriers encountered in pedestrian areas will be presented. We use the concept of active ageing for theoretical framing of our closing discussion. What is the effect of changing external environment on the aging experience? |
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