1. 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

2. 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…..
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3. 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.
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4. 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, 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.
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5. 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:
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6. 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…..
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7. 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
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8. 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.
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9. 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.
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10. 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.
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11. Thank you for your attention!
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