Older people and outdoor environments: Pedestrian anxieties and barriers in the use of familiar and unfamiliar spaces
Older people and outdoor environments: Pedestrian anxieties and barriers in the use of familiar and unfamiliar spaces
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DOI：
10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.04.002
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
J. Phillips;N. Walford;Ann Hockey;N. Foreman;Michael Lewis
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Phillips;N. Walford;Ann Hockey;N. Foreman;Michael Lewis
为数不多的研究着眼于老年人对“家庭”环境以外空间的使用，特别是不熟悉的城市公共空间。这种不熟悉可能是由于老年人作为游客前往新地区造成的;由于城市复兴的结果;或者由于认知能力下降，熟悉的事物变得不熟悉。本文探讨了老年人在陌生的城市空间中作为行人的经历。在看两个方面：老年人的空间焦虑和他们在不熟悉的环境中感知和遇到的障碍（身体，心理，空间和社会）。44名参与者参加了一个真实的洞穴练习，10人组成的小组作为行人访问了一个不熟悉的区域，描述了他们在预定路线上行走的经历。随着城市化和人口老龄化的加剧，这是地理学家和老年学家的重要领域。我们的研究表明，在新的环境中，老年人会担心一些障碍;这些障碍包括不良的标志，混乱的空间，不良的铺路和“感官超载”，即噪音和环境的复杂性。对于参与者来说，在导航不熟悉的区域时，地标和独特的建筑比标牌更重要。这些经验有助于规划者在设计社区以支持老年人时的实践意义。一些小的变化，如在明确标记的标志上放置距离;提供关于关键旅游点以外的特定区域的进一步信息，以及使用地标作为明确的导航辅助工具，都很重要。本文还增加了越来越多的文献地理老年学。
A limited number of studies look at older people’s use of space outside the ‘home’ environment, particularly unfamiliar, public urban space. Such unfamiliarity can be created through older people travelling as tourists to new areas; as a consequence of urban regeneration; or as a result of cognitive decline, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar. This paper explores the experiences of older people as pedestrians in unfamiliar urban spaces. In looks at two aspects: older people’s spatial anxieties and the barriers (physical, psychological, spatial and social) they perceive and encounter in unfamiliar surroundings. Forty-four participants who took part in a reality cave exercise and a sub group of 10 people who visited an unfamiliar area as pedestrians describe their experience of walking a predetermined route. Given increasing urbanisation and population ageing this is an area of importance to geographers and gerontologists. Our study showed that there are a number of barriers that are a concern for older people in new environments; these include poor signage, confusing spaces, poor paving and ‘sensory overload’ i.e. noise and complexity of the environment. Landmarks and distinctive buildings were more important to participants than signage in navigating unfamiliar areas. Such experiences can contribute to practice implications for planners in designing neighbourhoods to support older people. Small changes such as placing distance on clearly marked signage; giving further information about particular areas beyond the key tourist points and using landmarks as clear navigational aids are important. This paper also adds to the growing literature on geographical gerontology.