Seasonal differences in mobility and activity space in later life: a case study of older adults in the Northern Netherlands.

Mobility is crucial for maintaining well-being in later life. Previous research has shown that older adults' mobility fluctuates throughout the day, with a particular focus on afternoon outdoor movement. This paper takes a broader approach and explores the seasonal differences and similarities in mobility and activity space in later life, using older adults in the Northern Netherlands as a case study. Seventeen older adults participated in the study, for which we used a mixed-methods approach combining GPS-, activity diaries, and in-depth interview data analysed through grounded visualisation. We have collected data from each participant for a week, once during fall/winter and once during summer. The findings of this paper defy common expectations around older adult mobility; for instance, the participants walked less in summer and had a larger activity space in winter. Equally, we demonstrate that it is crucial to distinguish between daily and incidental activity spaces, particularly when factoring in seasonal variations. Yet our mixed-methods approach revealed discrepancies between perceived and measured mobility and activity space. We argue that the intricate interplay of seasonal influences, weather conditions, and personal factors significantly shapes mobility practices in later life, underscoring the need for holistic planning of age-inclusive environments.

What happens behind doors? Exploring everyday indoor activities when ageing in place.

Engaging in social interaction and physical movement during everyday activities has a positive influence on wellbeing in later life. For older adults who age in place, the majority of activities occur indoors, yet studies typically focus on outdoors. Gender influences social and physical activities but is understudied in an ageing-in-place context. We aim to address these gaps by increasing insight into the indoor activities in later life, with a focus on gender differences in social interaction and physical movement. Through a mixed-methods approach, data were collected using global positioning system (GPS) trackers, pedometers and activity diaries. Twenty community-dwelling older adults (11 women and 9 men) who were living in Lancashire collected these data over seven days. An exploratory spatio-temporal analysis was conducted on the 820 activities they undertook. We discovered that our participants spend large amounts of time indoors. We also found that social interaction increases the duration of the activity and, conversely, decreases levels of physical movement. When zooming in to gender differences, men's activities took significantly longer than women's activities and were characterised by higher level of social interaction. Based on these results, we argue that there is a trade-off between social interaction and physical movement in everyday activities. We suggest establishing a balance between socialising and moving in everyday activities in later life, specifically because maintaining high levels of movement and social interaction at the same time seems unachievable. In conclusion, it is important to design indoor environments that facilitate choice between being active and resting, and between being social and being on one's own rather than assume they are mutually-exclusive and/or universally "good" or "bad" per se.

How applicable is geospatial analysis in maternal and neonatal health in sub-Saharan Africa? A systematic review.

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the world's highest maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality and has shown the slowest progress in reducing them. In addition, there is substantial inequality in terms of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in the region. Geospatial studies can help prioritize scarce resources by pinpointing priority areas for implementation. This systematic review was conducted to explore the application of geospatial analysis to maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in SSA. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases was performed. All observational and qualitative studies that reported on maternal or neonatal health outcomes were included if they used a spatial analysis technique and were conducted in a SSA country. After removing duplicates, two reviewers independently reviewed each study's abstract and full text for inclusion. Furthermore, the quality of the studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklists. Finally, due to the heterogeneity of studies, narrative synthesis was used to summarize the main findings, and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was strictly followed to report the review results. A total of 56 studies were included in the review. Results: We found that geospatial analysis was used to identify inequalities in maternal and neonatal morbidity, mortality, and health care utilization and to identify gaps in the availability and geographic accessibility of maternal health facilities. In addition, we identified a few studies that used geospatial analysis for modelling intervention areas. We also detected challenges and shortcomings, such as unrealistic assumptions used by geospatial models and a shortage of reliable, up-to-date, small-scale georeferenced data. Conclusions: The use of geospatial analysis for maternal and neonatal health in SSA is still limited, and more detailed spatial data are required to exploit the potential of geospatial technologies fully.

Using the concept of activity space to understand the social health of older adults living with memory problems and dementia at home.

Globally as the population ages, the prevalence of dementia will increase. Simultaneously, there is a trend toward people ageing at home. Therefore, more people will be ageing at home with dementia, as opposed to institutional environments. In this context, there has been a recent shift in research exploring ways that people can live well with the consequences of the disease. As a part of this emerging research, the social and spatial aspects of the lives of people living with memory problems are becoming increasingly of interest. The aim of this article is to use the concept of activity space to examine the social health of older adults with memory problems and dementia who live at home. Activity space data were collected from seven older adults experiencing memory problems and living at home in the Netherlands. Using a mixed-methods approach, insight into their activity spaces were gained through walking interviews, 14 days of global positioning system (GPS) movement data, travel diary entries and in-depth interviews. The GPS data, travel diary data and interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded visualization approach. Our findings show that participants interact independently in routine activity spaces but depend on others to participate in occasional activity spaces. Interactions within both these spaces contribute to the social health of older adults with memory problems and dementia who live at home. Additionally, participants used coping strategies and decision-making to maintain autonomy in daily life. The findings can inform dementia-friendly initiatives and social health care planning.

Public Spaces as Knowledgescapes: Understanding the Relationship between the Built Environment and Creative Encounters at Dutch University Campuses and Science Parks.

The success of university campuses depends on the interrelations between creative encounters and the built environment, conceptualised here as spatial affordances for creativity. Such an interface plays a fundamental role in interactions for knowledge sharing and the exchange of ideas on campus. Due to campus public spaces generally being considered as the leftovers between buildings and classrooms, undermanaged, and overlooked, little is known about the extent to which this built environment enables or inhibits creative encounters in such spaces. The inner-city campuses and science parks (SPs) of Amsterdam and Utrecht, the case-studies of this research, differ in terms of their location relative to the city, their masterplan typologies and the arrangement of buildings. However, they are similar in terms of the aforementioned issues of public spaces. The novelty of this research is the attempt to overcome such issues using an innovative mixed-methods approach that tests the 'spatial affordances for creativity' with empirical data collection and analysis. This raises the importance of mapping, quantifying and analysing the spatial distribution of momentary perceptions, experiences, and feelings of people with methods such as volunteered geographic information (VGI). The results show that proximity between multiple urban functions and physical features, such as parks, cafés and urban seating are important when it comes to explaining the high frequency of creative encounters between people. Urban designers of campuses can use the applied method as a tool to plan and design attractive public spaces that provide creativity through the transfer of tacit knowledge, social well-being, positive momentary perceptions, sense of community, and a sense of place.

Quality over Quantity: Contribution of Urban Green Space to Neighborhood Satisfaction.

There is increasing evidence that the quality of green space significantly contributes to neighborhood satisfaction and well-being, independent of the mere amount of green space. In this paper, we examined residents' perceptions of the quality and beneficial affordances of green space in relation to objectively assessed accessibility and usability. We used data from a survey in two neighborhoods (N = 223) of a medium-sized city in the Netherlands, which were similar in the amount of green space and other physical and socio-demographic characteristics, but differed in the availability of accessible and usable green spaces. Results show that residents of the neighborhood with a higher availability of accessible and usable green spaces were more satisfied with their neighborhood. This difference was statistically mediated by the higher level of perceived green space quality. Neighborhood satisfaction was significantly positively related to well-being. However, residents of the two neighborhoods did not differ in self-reported well-being and beneficial affordances of green space. These analyses contribute to a further understanding of how the accessibility and usability of green spaces may increase people's neighborhood satisfaction. It highlights the importance of perceived quality in addition to the amount of green space when examining the beneficial effects of green space.

Numbers and narratives: Developing a mixed-methods approach to understand mobility in later life.

The aim of this methods-focused article is to explore the potential benefits of integrating GPS, diary and in-depth interview data to gain richer insights into the everyday mobility practices of older adults. Eighteen adults, aged 65-90 years, living in the Netherlands, participated in the study. Our findings illustrate how quantitative (GPS) and qualitative (interviews and diary-based) approaches together can generate different insights and layers of understanding from each individual method in order to enhance the overall study findings. Our findings demonstrate that our methodological approach generates new insights with respect to GPS-measured and self-reported mobility, time-geographies, and micro-geographies of older adults in the Netherlands. In conclusion, our mixed-methods approach contributes to a better understanding of the everyday mobility practices of older adults, and could be used in other demographic groups.

Evaluation by policy makers of a procedure to describe perceived landscape openness.

In the last decade policy makers have increasingly recognized the need to include people's perceptions in methods for describing landscape quality. At the same time, a third wave of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has become available that make it technically possible to model landscape quality in a realistic manner. However, as there is often a mismatch between science and policy, it remains unclear to what extent perception-based models developed by scientists can be useful to policy makers. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness to policy making of a GIS-based procedure for describing perceived landscape openness. To this end, a workshop was organized which was attended by eight Dutch policy makers who acted as representatives of their province (region). The Group Decision Room (GDR) technique was used to elicit the policy makers' evaluations of the procedure in an anonymous and reliable manner. The procedure was presented to the policy makers using cases from their own province, which they assessed using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that policy makers rated the procedure as being highly relevant to policy making, scientifically credible, usable by policy makers and feasible to implement in the policy making process. They especially appreciated the flexibility and transparency of the procedure. The policy makers concluded that the procedure would be of most value for monitoring landscape changes and for analysing impacts on landscape openness in land use scenario studies. However, they requested guidelines for proper implementation of the various options in the procedure. In general, the current study shows that explicit and transparent evaluation of the usefulness of GIS-based tools can aid integration at the science-policy interface and help to ensure that both scientists and policy makers are informed of interrelated options and requirements.