Forward-looking views on older adults’ im·mobility: spatio-temporal resources and barriers

In the context of climate change and ongoing demographic ageing, social infrastructure is becoming increasingly important. I study more specifically access inequalities to public space for older adults. Thinking together mobility and immobility (hence the midpoint) makes it possible to observe what triggers and limits exit from home, both temporally and spatially.

A prospective posture allows for some methodological creativity. I use mixed methods, in between demographic modelling based on French National Transport Surveys and participative investigations in Annecy. I am working there in collaboration with Carton Plein, a multidisciplinary structure, as part of their creative research project Aging Alive! (Vieillir Vivant!).

Both aspects of my research come together in a joint debate on the right (not the duty) to step out from home at least once a day. I project im·mobility behaviors until 2070 (via age, gender, generation and geography) while questioning in 2024 daily lives of some caregivers, isolated persons or active pensioners. Each group in its own way embodies a future (utopian or dystopian) for im·mobility at old age: life under temporal, spatial or moderate constraints.

Walking-along with two groups, we experiment different drivers of public space participation, a preliminary to every mobility. Following them, we pay attention to what makes urban strolls meaningful, where to stop along the way, and the quality of paths connecting – or not – all these places.