Designing Communities to Enhance the Safety and Mobility of Older Adults

Abstract

By 2030, seventy-two million people, or fully one of every five Americans, will be aged sixty-five or older, raising important concerns about how our cities, communities, and transportation facilities will safety accommodate their travel needs. The current policy solution is to increase driver testing, provide senior-oriented paratransit services, and ultimately, to house older, nondriving adults in senior care communities where more mobile individuals can provide basic household-related services for them. These practices, while perhaps well intentioned, effectively segregate older adults from the larger community. We can do better. This article summarizes the available literature on the travelrelated needs, abilities, and preferences of older adults. Through a synthesis of the current knowledge, it identifies four strategies that can be used to design communities and transportation systems to address the safety and mobility needs of an aging population in an inclusive, universal manner.

Metadata-based Needs Assessment for Emergency Transportation Operations with a Focus on an Aging Population: A Case Study in Florida

“…There are a substantial amount of behavioral studies published in the last 20 years that focus on the travel behavior and preferences of the aging, mostly based on surveys, interviews and focus groups. Aging adults clearly want to have the convenience and flexibility that a personal vehicle provides (Rosenbloom, 2001), and want to be independent through car ownership (Dumbaugh, 2008). Aging populations living in metropolitan areas such as New York, on the other hand, still prefer Aging-focused Assessment for Emergency Transportation Operations 7 walking or transit services to driving cars (Guiliano & Hu, 2003).…”

Planning for population ageing: Ensuring enabling and supportive physical-social environments – Local infrastructure challenges

“…Notably, the design and safety of the built environment can influence levels of physical activity (AIHW, 2010;Aspinall et al, 2010;Dumbaugh, 2008;Edwards & Tsourous, 2006). A review of recent research on the effect of the built environment on mobility in older people (Rosso et al, 2011) indicated that mobility is associated with urban design characteristics such as the size and extensiveness of footpaths, greater street connectivity (resulting in shorter pedestrian distances) and land use patterns, for example densities and land-use mixes that provide proximity to destinations such as shops and parks.…”

Social dependency and mobile autonomy

“…In this context Lord emphasizes the adaptation of lifestyle through 'mutual aid' and 'community based' help [13]. Again others argue that such structures should be institutionalized to increase the benefits [27], [6]. One way of doing so could be a ridesharing system based on existing social networks.…”