Introduction

Mobility and access to physical space in the built environment is gendered. People’s behaviour in public space is affected by such elements as their feelings of safety and their perceived legitimacy to be there, and how far they desire to be in such space, and this all depends in some respects upon their gender. This chapter examines different types of interaction in the built environment, including how we access space through mobility and transport and where this might differentiate in terms of gender. This chapter then explores research with older people in semi-structured interviews that discussed their interactions with public spaces, including what resources they drew on when travelling to and from the space, and highlights gender differences with a focus on issues older men face in public spaces, framed around a theory of mobility capital (Musselwhite and Scott, 2019).

Importance of mobility in later life

Older people in many high-income countries are more mobile than previous generations. People desire to stay connected to family and friends across the world, and often are still working and enjoying more leisure-based activity. As would be expected, mobility is important to older people’s health and wellbeing (Schlag et al, 1996). However, older people more than any other group mention more barriers to mobility and are more likely to mention mobility as a barrier to fulfilling their needs and desires (see Musselwhite and Scott, 2021). A lack of mobility is linked to poorer health and wellbeing and increases in depression and loneliness (Ling and Mannion, 1995; Fonda et al, 2001). Older people in high-income countries tend to be frequent car users and giving up driving can be associated with poor health outcomes due to a lack of being able to fulfil daily routines, but also psychosocial or affective reasons (Musselwhite and Haddad, 2010; 2018). Alternatives to the car can be difficult to use for a variety of physiological but also social or affective reasons (Musselwhite, 2018). These mobility spaces that give people access to what they want to do and who they want to see can be gendered, as discussed in the next section.

Introduction

Across the globe we live in an ageing society. Western countries especially are seeing rapid ageing due to a combination of people living longer because of better health and social care, and lower birth rates. This results in both a higher number and a higher percentage of people in their later years. There are now 840 million people over 60 across the world, representing 11.7 per cent of the population. In 1950, there were only 384.7 million people aged over 60, representing 8.6 per cent of the global population (UN 2015). Projections suggest that by 2050 there will be 2 billion people aged over 60, representing 21.2 per cent of the global population (UN 2015). The rate of increase in older people is faster in wealthier countries. For example, 25 per cent of the UK's population is likely to be over 60 by around 2030 (Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2013). Figure 14.1 illustrates the ageing of the UK population. It shows historical change between 1980 and 2014 as well as projections to 2050. There has been a large increase in the number of people aged 60 and over since 2000, and the number of people aged 75 and over increased from 3.2 million in 1980 to 5.2 million in 2014 and is set to increase to 11.6 million by the middle of the century. By contrast, the number of under-thirties has been fairly stable since 1980, although there was a decline between 1980 and 2000 which has now reversed (with a significant contribution from inward migration). Numbers are set to increase into the future, albeit at a lower rate of increase than older adults, and thus most of the projected growth in the population is expected to be of those aged 60 and over.

In this chapter, we examine trends in the travel behaviour of both younger and older adults, along with reasons for these trends and implications for transport policy and provision. With the average age of the UK population increasing, it is of course important to look at the travel behaviour of older people and how it is changing, but the travel behaviour of young people is also significant as patterns that develop in their early years are likely to be highly formative in shaping travel throughout their life course (Beuret 2016).

Introduction

This chapter argues for an understanding of connectivity through mobility by elders living in rural areas that goes beyond the traditional transport planning focus on the supply of and demand for transport services. This involves consideration of not just physical movement, but also all the other ways in which older people can be ‘mobile’ for connectivity and the wider benefits and meanings mobility brings, for example, video-calling grandchildren using computer software, finding out about shopping delivery services for use in bad weather or compiling a scrapbook about a past alpine holiday. Following a brief review of methods, a conceptual framework for mobility that can be applied across the life course is presented. The following section applies this framework as a context to understanding some of the key mobility policy and practice challenges for the promotion of the connectivity of rural elders, which relate to the availability of mobility options – cars in particular – and the associated issues of accessibility and mobility-linked social exclusion. It is concluded that the more holistic appraisal of mobility for older citizens brings important conceptual benefits. A picture emerges of rural areas being ‘car-intensive’, but less car-dependent than identified in previous studies, with accessibility for connectivity also relatively unproblematic for the majority, although with minorities representing important exceptions. Practical relevance is drawn out for planning and urban design, as well as for health and social care professionals.

Methods

The analysis draws on the quantitative survey described in Chapter One and two qualitative data-collection activities conducted specifically for the mobility and transport study that was part of the Grey and Pleasant Land (GaPL) project: 45 semi-structured interviews, for which the participants were selected to represent a range of mobility lifestyles; and 10 phenomenological interviews, with participants selected according to varying health and mobility statuses.

The GaPL survey contained a series of mobility-related questions that addressed travel patterns and behaviours, mode choice (including over time), and whether mobility played a role in either exclusion from, or engagement with, the local community. Participants in the semi-structured interviews were mostly recruited from volunteers identified through the quantitative survey, but due to the low representation in the quantitative survey sample of a particular group of interest (people who had recently given up car-driving), seven further participants were recruited from outside of the quantitative survey sample.