Keep moving – Mobility in the transition to retirement Keep moving – Mobility in the transition to retirement. The intertwining of everyday mobility and physical activity Jessica Berg PhD student VTI, The Swedish national road and transport research institute and NISAL, The national institute for the study of ageing and later life, Linköping University, Sweden

Background and purpose of the PhD- study Key events and life transition points as mobility influencing Third agers, baby boomers, 40s´… Explore the every practices in adapting the mobility and… …peoples own perspectives and experiences in shaping the mobility after retirement. Background is the interest in how…………namely going from a two-person household to a one-person household or retiring from work. Present retirees have been referred to as…. Differ from previous generations of pensioners in many ways; healthier, wealthier, engage more in leisure time activities, hold a drivers licence- especially among women compared to earlier generations. Purpose of the study is to….. 16/01/2019

Aim of this paper The individual health project as mobility enhancing What projects are realized by walking or bicycling? What factors restricts and enables people to be physically active in their everyday transportations? The aim is a result from my data collection where i found thet being active and staying heatlhy……. I never brought up issues of helath or concepts of activity and staying healhty. Came up during interviews. 16/01/2019

Method and participants Mobility as a meaningful practise (Cresswell, 2010) Time-geography Travel diaries and qualitative interviews 12 men, 12 women 61-67 years old Retired since one year approx. Norrköping, 130 000 inhabitants Mobility as a meaningful practise: More than travelling from A to B. Mobility as a construction of identity and the other way around- identity shapes mobility TG- Used as a frame for data collection and analysis. Geography appears in the meaning of connections beteeen places and the home as an important node , neighborhood , proximity, the local traffic environment. Not measured in terms of distances. A qualitative understanding of how a city like Norrköping shapes mobility. 16/01/2019

Why combine transportation and physical activity? To exercise To maintain health, for rehabilitation and care of illnesses. The best or the only transportation modes available Being outdoors Multidimensional purposes: Highlighted in quotations: 16/01/2019

You have to take every little opportunity to exercise whether it is a bike ride to… it may even be that you take a long walk just to buy some milk. That you walk for 45 minutes just to buy some milk. (Gösta, married man) When I walk in to the city, I don´t walk the straight way, rather I take different turns to get some exercise. That's the new thing. That´s what I didn´t have time to before. (Bertil, married man) I find it a little bit difficult to just walk for its own sake So I often have to have a reason. And then if I might have forgotten to buy something small, that is not too heavy, I walk to the shopping Centre to buy that and walk back home. (Vivian, widowed woman) What appears here is that the woman actually have the same strategy as the other informants, namely to create errands for being PA. The quote from her illustrates however a different representation of mobility than the other would ascribe. All three of them give physical activity a normative positive ascription whether they wish or force themselves to get out. Being PA is something you should do as you get older, when retired, its “good for you” even if you don´t like….. 16/01/2019

What everyday projects are realized by walking or bicycling and what are the resources? Shopping- and service errands proximity time expensive parking Care and support social networks Accompanying social support close family members Shopping and service errands: proximity, time Care and support: walking the dog, picking up grandchildren Spouses are doing each other company 16/01/2019

Other resources Being used to walk or bicycle Walking paths Green spaces, nice surroundings Being retired Everything is close and as many of them explains, they do not need to rush now when they are retired. Especialy among informants who earlier had a very stressful job. 16/01/2019

Restrictions Physical disabilities Lack of motivation Long distances Combining of errands Commitments Snowy and icy streets Back injury, bad knees especially for carrying heavy bags To have access to a car (usually right outside their house) not motivated to walk Need to have someone to walk with, especially at night for safety reasons, but also to enjoy it. Snow and ice- especially for bicycling. Most of them doesn´t bike during winter. 16/01/2019

Conclusions Being physically active is important Active ageing paradigm Mobility has multiple meanings and is contextually bounded The car is not as important as expected Nowadays a gerontological discourse on active ageing is dominating. Highlighted in political documents, society is responsible for creating opportunities for the individual to engage in activities on different levels; social, cultural and civil engagement. Impact on their believes on how everyday as a pensioner should be lived and on their transportation mode choices. 16/01/2019

Thank you for your attention! jessica.berg@vti.se 16/01/2019