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Mobiles for mobility

https://journal.gerontechnology.org/currentIssueContent.aspx?aid=2248 "Abstract Purpose Existing solutions facilitating mobility among older adults mainly focus on supporting physical disabilities. However, solutions are more likely to succeed when current activities and capabilities serve as a starting point. Participatory design is a suitable approach to detect these. We investigated (i) how participatory design techniques can be applied to obtain insight into the daily activities and capabilities of older adults, and (ii) what the design implications are of taking these activities and capabilities as a basis for the development of a mobility-enhancing application. Method Research context was a three-year European project comprising health care managers, researchers, and designers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Older adults were involved in each of the four-step iterative design process (participatory design sessions, scenarios, user requirements, and user evaluation). Results & Discussion (i) Reflection on the design process showed that particular issues should be considered in selecting participatory design tools (e.g., diaries and photo assignments are more suited than interviews) and organizing joint sessions (e.g., reserve more time for informal activities, address privacy concerns, and provide opportunity to ventilate doubts towards technology). The participatory design methods appeared suited to provide input for the application’s functionalities based on activities and capabilities. (ii) A mobility-enhancing mobile application for older adults should apply (a) Demographics: validated user profiles as a basis, but enable personalization; (b) Cognitive and physical abilities: Facilitate activities close to the home of the older adults; (c) Safety perception: Support older adults cognitively during their activities outdoor, but also prior to and afterwards and foster social contact. Future work The results of the current study have been used as input for prototype development, which has been tested in a pilot study in Spain and The Netherlands."

Towards a core-set of mobility measures in ageing research

BACKGROUND: Mobility is a key determinant and outcome of healthy ageing but its definition, conceptual framework and underlying constructs within the physical domain may need clarification for data comparison and sharing in ageing research. This study aimed to (1) review definitions and conceptual frameworks of mobility, (2) explore agreement on the definition of mobility, conceptual frameworks, constructs and measures of mobility, and (3) define, classify and identify constructs.METHODS: A three-step approach was adopted: a literature review and two rounds of expert questionnaires (n = 64, n = 31, respectively). Agreement on statements was assessed using a five-point Likert scale; the answer options 'strongly agree' or 'agree' were combined. The percentage of respondents was subsequently used to classify agreements for each statement as: strong (≥ 80%), moderate (≥ 70% and < 80%) and low (< 70%).RESULTS: A variety of definitions of mobility, conceptual frameworks and constructs were found in the literature and among respondents. Strong agreement was found on defining mobility as the ability to move, including the use of assistive devices. Multiple constructs and measures were identified, but low agreements and variability were found on definitions, classifications and identification of constructs. Strong agreements were found on defining physical capacity (what a person is maximally capable of, 'can do') and performance (what a person actually does in their daily life, 'do') as key constructs of mobility.CONCLUSION: Agreements on definitions of mobility, physical capacity and performance were found, but constructs of mobility need to be further identified, defined and classified appropriately. Clear terminology and definitions are essential to facilitate communication and interpretation in operationalising the physical domain of mobility as a prerequisite for standardisation of mobility measures.

The new global nomads

Increasing youth travel has led to young people being labelled as ‘nomads’. This paper examines the phenomenon of youth nomadism in the tourism literature as well as examining recent empirical evidence. A review of the literature around youth nomadism identifies two major themes: analyses of the growth and development of youth travel niches, such as backpacking, volunteer tourism and educational exchange, and broader approaches linked to the rise of the mobilities paradigm. A major global survey of youth travel (34,000 respondents) indicates three major travel styles related to different forms of ‘nomadism’: the backpacker, the flashpacker and the global nomad. The traditional backpacker can be seen as a form of ‘neotribe’, gathering in self-sufficient enclaves. In contrast, the flashpacker, or ‘digital nomad’, utilizes existing digital and logistic infrastructure to maintain a fluid, individualized lifestyle. The global nomad, or ‘location independent traveller’, tries to integrate with the local community, while trying to avoid the strictures of ‘system’.

Urban tourism studies : a transversal research agenda.

The debate on tourism in cities, both academically and in practice, has for a long time taken place in relative isolation from urban studies. Tourism is mostly addressed as an external agent and economic force that puts pressure on cities rather than as an interdependent part of city systems. The recent debate on city touristification and excessive dependence on the visitor economy, as well as the associated processes of exclusion, and displacement of local city users, serves to highlight how tourism is an integral part of urban developments. A wider urban perspective is needed to understand the processes underlying the tourism phenomena and more transdisciplinary perspectives are required to analyze the urban (tourism) practices. The current article seeks to contribute to such a perspective through a discussion of the literature on urban and tourism studies, and related fields such as gentrification, mobilities, and touristification. Based on this, theoretical reflections are provided regarding a more integral perspective to tourism and urban development in order to engage with a transversal urban tourism research agenda.

Alpine pearls: tourist destinations' response to a need for more sustainable tourism mobilities

New governance models for behaviour change in tourism mobilities: a research agenda

There is a groundswell of opinion in tourism, transport and cognate academic fields, that the travel and tourism industry is profoundly environmentally flawed (Gössling et al., 2010; Wheeller, 2012). Deeply embedded in neoliberal consumer society and entrenched in the structures of late-capitalism (Harvey, 2011), efforts to address the environmental failures of global tourism have, for the time being, rested largely with the consumer. This edited book has interrogated the behavioural and psychological dimensions of (tourist) mobility consumption, highlighted the complexity of consumer decision-making and drawn into question the efficacy of a consumer-led industry response to the climate crisis. The chapters in the first part of the book explored psychological understandings of climate change and tourism mobilities. These chapters unpack some of the key barriers to behaviour change in sustainable mobility, focusing on the attitude-behaviour gap as a significant hurdle to actualising behavioural change, the importance of identity and emotions to consumer decision-making in tourism and transport contexts, and how the hedonic and affective representations surrounding tourism spaces make them particular tricky settings for enacting sustained positive behaviour change. The chapters show that the barriers to unlocking behavioural change amongst consumers are considerable, and that the travelling public is unlikely to change “spontaneously” on the basis of environmental awareness alone. The socio-psychological insights in this part instead point towards increased governance as paramount in developing more sustainable mobility practices, if these changes are to be significant and in line with global climate policy. Part II of the book turned to behavioural aspects of climate change and tourism mobilities, and dealt with issues such as how carbon offsetting can ironically induce more travel rather than deter it, and the multiple ways in which time and distance are implicated in mobility decisions, including how changing information technologies can redefine these concepts. Longer-term planning horizons, and the impacts of individual lifestyles on demand modelling are explored, as well as how public transport can be promoted to visitors in urban destinations. The chapters in this part span a range of behavioural issues as they relate to (un)sustainable mobility, from localised ground transport and real-time travel information, to mega-events and the perceived cultural value of longdistance travel. The final part of the book focused on governance and policies based upon psychological, behavioural and social mechanisms. It commences with a comprehensive review of the cognitive, experiential and normative approaches to climate change communication before proposing an integrative conceptual framework for enhanced communication interventions. This aims to narrow the gap between awareness and attitudes on one hand, and behaviour on the other, that is evidenced in many of the other chapters. The part concludes with a challenge to move beyond socio/psychological approaches that attempt to foster sustainable mobility behaviour, such as nudging and social marketing, and question more seriously the systems of provision that perpetuate these practices. Significant structural change will require more radical approaches to governance, but the wheels of change turn slowly and in the case of anthropogenic climate change time is in limited supply. Overall, the chapters support earlier insights that increasing climate awareness and environmental concern has little bearing upon tourism consumption (Cohen et al., 2011; Eijgelaar et al., 2010; Hares et al., 2010; Higham and Cohen, 2011; McKercher et al., 2010), but they provide new perspectives as to why this might be the case. Travel decisions, the book shows, are deeply embedded socially and culturally, and intimately related to emotions, identity, time, happiness, performances of self or the attainment (or avoidance) of “possible selves”, all of which represent subconscious and little investigated psychological factors that bear upon travel decisions. The wide disparities that are apparent in domestic (“home”) and tourism (“away”) decision-making and behavioural contexts (Barr et al., 2010) cement the conclusion that the autonomy of individual pro-environmental response, when set within the systems of provision in latecapitalist consumer society, is fraught with challenge.