Marie Geraldine HERRMANN-LUNECKE, Universidad de Chile, Chile
Cristhian FIGUEROA, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
Walking has been defined as an everyday activity that reports numerous benefits, including wellbeing (Franke et al. 2020). Studies have shown the positive impacts it has on people’s health (e.g., prevention of cardiovascular diseases, reduction of stress) and its opportunities to address sustainability challenges (e.g., car dependency) (Loo et al. 2017). Walking can prevent–or delay–physical and cognitive decline, being an everyday activity that many older people develop to remain active, visible and connected with the community (Franke et al. 2019). However, older persons’ opportunities to walk can be severely restricted by personal circumstances (Van den Berg et al. 2016), social factors and, in particular, the built environment (Graham et al. 2020).
This research seeks to analyse the obstacles that older persons face when walking, through 40 walking interviews with older people in in their neighbourhoods in Santiago, Chile, a Latin American metropolis of 7 million people. The findings suggest that older persons consider walking as a vital part of their routines. They consistently described its practice as a strategy to remain socially connected, be active in their neighbourhoods and age “better” in place. The participants, however, indicated that walking in Santiago occurs in “hostile” public spaces. Places where they walk are often inadequate (e.g., damaged sidewalks), provoke accidents (e.g., falls), and induce fear and anxiety (e.g., not being able to manage obstacles that may emerge). Also, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased older persons’ apprehensions towards the public space. The participants were worried about walking outside because measures to control the spread of COVID-19 reduced the number of people in the public space (e.g., few eyes on the street) and the scant space dedicated to pedestrians does not always allow for a “safe distance”, hindering walking as an everyday activity.
This research has been funded by ANID Fondecyt Regular Nº1200527.
Mots clés : everday activities|public space|walking|older persons|wellbeing
A104023MH