SUSTAINABLE AGING IN AIX-MARSEILLE-PROVENCE METROPOLIS :

Assessment Indicators and Interactive Visualizations for Policy Making.

Joan Perez1[0000-0003-3003-0895] , Araldi Alessandro1 , Boyer Thomas1 , Bridier Sébastien2 , Decoupiny Fabrice1 , Fusco Giovanni1 , Laperrière Vincent2 , Trémélo Marie-Laure2 .

1 Université Côte-Azur, CNRS, ESPACE, Nice, France

2 Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, ESPACE, Aix-en-Provence, France

joan.perez@univ-cotedazur.fr

Abstract : As the world's population continues to age and urbanization accelerates, the focus of urban sustainability has evolved towards promoting the needs and well-being of older adults in addition to environmental concerns. Urban environments have a significant impact on the experiences of city dwellers, particularly of older adults, and from this perspective certain neighborhoods present greater challenges than others. To address issues related to aging, cities around the world have launched initiatives to improve urban sustainability for older adults, ranging from redesigning public spaces to providing opportunities for social interaction. However, to design effective interventions, open-access data related to urban environments must be collected and analyzed to identify neighborhoods with the greatest need for improvement. This paper presents a case study of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis in France, showing that a range of assessment indicators focused on walkability and urban form can be calculated using open-access data. Through the presentation of these indicators and exploratory analysis results in a visual and interactive format (HTML-based platform), planners and policymakers can quickly identify patterns and trends, thereby helping them identify neighborhoods with the most significant needs and create more effective policies. Keywords: Aging, walkability, urban form, data visualization, urban sustainability.

Introduction

As the world's population ages and more people choose to live in urban areas, the focus of urban sustainability has evolved beyond environment issues to also encompass the needs and well-being of older adults. This evolution has been driven by a growing recognition of the important role that urban environments play in promoting healthy aging and social inclusion, as highlighted by academics and intergovernmental organizations [1, 2]. The locations are significantly impacting the experiences and possibilities of all city dwellers, and especially of older adults, and from this perspective certain neighborhoods are presenting greater challenges than others. This is for example the case of car-dependent suburbs made of single-family homes, hard to walk areas because of obstacles or steep slopes, or the presence/absence of close-by shops and services which leads to different degrees of vitality for neighborhoods [3]. The challenge for cities and policy makers is to ensure that older adults are, regardless of their residential location, fully integrated into the urban environment. In recent years, cities around the world have launched initiatives aimed at improving urban sustainability for older adults. These initiatives have included everything from redesigning public spaces to better meet the needs of older adults [4], to providing more opportunities for social interaction and community engagement [5]. To summarize, the aim is to make urban spaces more livable, sustainable, and resilient for generations to come. Built environments yet require improvements and modifications to varying degrees of urgency, depending of course on the type of issues at hand, but also on the requirements of the inhabitants living in different locations. From this perspective, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of open-access data related to urban environments can help identify the level of immediacy to which different neighborhoods, associated to different ratio of older adults, are exposed to sustainability and walkability issues. Urban planners and policy makers can for example use the output of a different range of assessment indicators to design, implement and modify urban locations within the aim of improving the overall quality of life for aging residents. However, to reach that aim, it is important for assessment indicators to be designed to address specific issues and for their results to be easily comprehensible and accessible at a metropolitan scale. This paper thus focuses on a test metropolitan area, the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis in southern France, and shows that a wide range of assessment indicators focusing on the link between locations and aging can be calculated using specific data in open-access. The range of indicators addressed in this paper focuses on the ratio of older adults, walkability issues (steep slopes and accessibility to amenities) as well as on the physical features of urban spaces (morphotypes), as they could be perceived by people. By presenting data in a visual and interactive way, planners and makers can then quickly identify patterns and trends that might not be immediately apparent. This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the case study AixMarseille-Provence Metropolis and the different datasets gathered for this study. Section 3 presents the assessment indicators that have been calculated. Section 4 presents preliminary results obtained by cross-analyzing the different indicators presented in section 3. Section 5 introduces an interactive platform to visualize and explore the spatial results calculated in the previous sections. Section 6 concludes the paper with a discussion on future applications.

References :

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3. Wood, G.E.R., Pykett, J., Daw, P., Agyapong-Badu, S., Banchoff, A., King, A.C. and Stathi, A.: The Role of Urban Environments in Promoting Active and Healthy Aging: A Systematic Scoping Review of Citizen Science Approaches. J Urban Health 99, 427–456 (2022).

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