Proximity to Urban Green Spaces for Older Adults in Specific Housings - a Case Study of Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

The World Health Organization, have due to the current worldwide urbanisation and ageing trends, proposed that having available Urban Green Spaces (UGS) is an important factor for ensuring healthy ageing in urban areas. Since it is particularly the oldest proportion of the older adults that are increasing in global population statistics, this study focused exclusively on available UGS based on older adult specific housings (OASH).

This study explored UGS availability by measuring UGS proximity in two different ways: by Euclidean and network distances. UGS proximity was expressed by stating how many older adults that had access to an UGS border within 200m, 300m, and 500m, based on individuals’ OASH address locations. OASH were defined as housing options specifically targeted towards older adult residents, categorized into four types (1-4). The study was conducted in a geographic information system (GIS) and was a case study in Malmö municipality’s urban areas, in Sweden.

The derived UGS proximity results were compared to previously produced national UGS proximity statistics for other demographic groups by Statistics Sweden. This comparison was made to explore if older adults in OASH had poorer UGS proximity compared to other groups of urban dwellers. UGS proximity associated to the different OASH types on their own were also explored. Overall, the results were assessed together to evaluate if the physical planning in Malmö’s urban areas could be claimed to be discriminating towards these individuals.

The findings of this study showed that older adults as a group in OASH had better UGS proximity than all other demographic groups in Malmö. The study nevertheless found differences when the results were categorized into different OASH types. Older adults in type 3 OASH had the poorest percentual UGS proximity, however relatively few individuals lived in that housing category. Instead, most older adults, when counted in numbers, that did not have UGS within the different distance thresholds, lived in OASH type 1. This was the housing type in which older adults lived that required the most extensive care and services. Overall, the conclusion was made that the physical planning in Malmö’s urban areas were not discriminating towards older adults in OASH. An ageing and increasingly more urban population, benefit from studies like this one in which UGS proximity can be studied in greater detailed.

Abstract (Swedish)

Världshälsoorganisationen har, med hänsyn till den världsomfattande urbaniseringen och åldrandet, föreslagit att tillgängliga grönområden i städers utomhusmiljöer är en viktig aspekt för det hälsofrämjande åldrande. Med anledning av att det främst är den äldre andelen av äldre som ökar globalt, fokuserar denna studie på att undersöka tillgängligheten av grönområden för de äldre som bor i boenden specifikt inriktade för äldre (kategoriserade i typ 1–4). Detta görs med argumenteten för att det är ett relativt sällsynt utgångsläge för forskning som fokuserar på miljöorättvisa men samtidigt är en vanlig boendeform för många av de äldsta äldre.

Denna studie undersökte tillgängligheten av grönområden genom att mäta euklidiskt avstånd och nätverksavstånd (200, 300m och 500m) mellan äldres boendeadresser och närmsta grönområde med hjälp av geografiska informationssystem. Studien var en fallstudie i Sverige, i Malmö kommuns tätorter. Med anledning av att tidigare identifierad forskning sällan utgått från boenden specifikt inriktade för äldre så var syftet med denna studie att undersöka ifall äldre i dessa boendeformer hade sämre närhet till grönområden än andra demografiska grupper, och ifall deras närhet till grönområden skiljde sig åt beroende på typ av boende. Resultatet från dessa frågor sammanställdes för att utvärdera om Malmös stadsplanering kunde anses vara diskriminerande gentemot dessa individer.

Studien visade att för de inkluderade boendena i denna studie, så hade äldre som grupp, bättre närhet till grönområden än alla övriga demografiska grupper. Äldre som bodde i typ 3 boenden hade de längsta avstånden till grönområden, däremot var det procentuellt få som bodde i typ 3 boenden. Flest äldre, i antal räknat, som hamnade utanför de olika avståndsgränserna bodde i typ 1 boenden, typ 1 boenden var det typ av boende där äldre med de största vård- och omsorgsbehoven bodde.

Sammanfattningsvis så visade denna studie att äldre som bodde i boenden specifikt inriktade för äldre i Malmös kommuns tätorter inte diskriminerades i stadsplaneringen. Dessa individer som grupp utsattes inte för någon orättvisa i deras tillgång till grönområden vid jämförelse med andra demografiska grupper av stadsbor inom kommunen.

Popular Abstract

People are becoming older and older. Growing old is nowadays considered a matter of course in many regions of the world. However, simultaneously as we are ageing, we are also changing where we live. More and more people are deciding to leave the countryside and the small towns behind, to move to the larger cities instead, to the more urban comfortable modern lives. The global trends are clear, and these changing demographics and places of residences put challenges on our societies. How should our cities really be designed and what features are important to promote good public health in an increasingly older city population?

Older adults worldwide describe how important they consider nature to be for their health, both physically and mentally, and especially having nature close by one’s home. These descriptions of closeness to nature and health benefits are supported by research findings when measuring older adults’ health objectively. So, what does the accessibility to nature really looks like for older adults? Is closeness to nature something older adults must sacrifice when they are moving to cities? And additionally, how does older adults’ closeness to nature compare to the experiences of other urban dwellers, might our cities even be discriminating? This thesis concentrated on exploring these questions in Malmö municipality, Sweden.

In more detail, this study mapped older adults’ access to green areas inside Malmö, by computing walking distances to parks, forests, and similar green areas, from actual older adults’ home locations. To be precise, calculations were exclusively based on those home options that solely targeted older adult residents, for example, nursing homes and senior apartments.

Overall, this study concluded that the physical planning in Malmö could not be claimed to be discriminating. In fact, it was shown that older adults in these specific housings had better closeness to nature compared to other urban dwellers. However, differences in nature closeness were identified within the older adult group. This study revealed that which subcategory of housing an older adult lived in, affected their access to nature. It was the older adults that required the most care and services in their everyday lives that belonged to the subgroup of older adults that had to walk the longest distances to reach nature. This result was especially interesting since one can claim that these individuals generally are capable of walking the shortest distances. Older adults, and an ageing city population, which may struggle with changing physical capacities, benefit from studies like this one in which actual access to nature is studied in greater detail.

• author: Kynde Hämberg, Josefine
• supervisor: Ulrik Mårtensson
• organization: Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
• course: GISM01 20241
• year: 2024
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• keywords: Urban Green Spaces, Older Adults, Proximity, Distance, GIS
• publication/series: Master Thesis in Geographical Information Science
• report number: 180
• language: English
• id: 9172489
• date added to LUP: 2024-08-26 13:49:34
• date last changed: 2024-08-26 13:49:34