Identifying mobility patterns and barriers from ageing population to access to retail activity

Abstract

While the role of ageing population is considered crucial for Sustainable Development Goal at city level, limited attention has been paid to study the walking accessibility level of this population group to retail activity. Moreover, one missing element is the analysis of the ageing population willingness to reach retail activity on foot, which is here seen as a key point to generate friendly, liveable, and decarbonised urban environments. The city of Granada (Spain) is taken as spatial laboratory for the research. For this city, the planning of ageing population mobility in the mid-term seems to be challenging. First, a questionnaire regarding the willingness of ageing population to walk to daily, weekly, and incidental retail locations was conducted, including the identification of the main barriers to cover those distances on foot. Data were collected between January 2018 and January 2019. Second, a detailed description of the main existing problems to access to different types of retail activities be explored and compared, distilling findings for urban diagnosis. This research provides a strong basis for policy-making formulation, which can be orientated towards making cities more inclusive, liveable, and sustainable. Its findings can facilitate the identification and mapping of locations where ageing population groups can be under risk of walking accessibility disadvantage.