A more realistic picture of older adults’ activity spaces: combining spatial and bodily micro-movements

Abstract

The everyday activities of older adults are enabled through numerous micro-movements, which are small spatial and bodily movements and non-movements essential for maintaining health. This study introduces and applies the concept of collateral mobilities to capture both bodily and spatial micro-movements and their interactions in everyday activity spaces. Using GPS tracker and pedometer data, we analysed the collateral mobilities of older adults in Lancashire, United Kingdom, across 513 places and 452 trips. ‘Places’ refer to the locations visited and ‘trips’ refer to the journeys connecting these places within an activity space. Our results show that larger activity spaces are associated with lower levels of bodily movement, highlighting the need to take both spatial extent and bodily movement into account when evaluating mobility behaviour. We also found that considerable bodily movement occurs in places of spatial non-movement, particularly in places outside of the home. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between bodily movement during trips and bodily movement within places before and after those trips. This study bridges geography and medical sciences by providing insights into the complex dynamics that shape everyday activity spaces in later life. It emphasises the importance of taking a holistic but detailed approach to understanding mobilities.