The perception of the values of urban space by senior citizens of Valparaiso

JournalofAgingStudies24(2010)344–357

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JournalofAgingStudies

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TheperceptionofthevaluesofurbanspacebyseniorcitizensofValparaiso

GiuliettaFaddaa, ,AlejandraCortésb,1,AlessandraOlivic,MarcelaTovard

abcd

DepartmentofArchitecture,UniversidaddeValparaiso,AvenidaMatta40,Recreo,ViñadelMar,ChileDepartmentofArchitecture,UniversidadFedericoSantaMaría,AvenidaEspaña1680,Valparaiso,ChileInstitutodeDesarrolloRegional,UniversidaddeSevilla,Spain

InternationalConsultant,CityUniversityofNewYork(CUNY),NewYork,NY,UnitedStates

articleinfoabstract

ThispaperisframedwithinthecontextoftheFondecytResearchProject(No.1061179)entitled“SeniorCitizens'qualityoflifeinanUrbanHabitat:Valparaiso,aCaseStudy.”Itinvestigateshowcertaintopographicalconditionsintheurbanhabitatimpactonthequalityoflifeofthepopulation'smostsenioragegroup.Followingatheoreticalapproach,wediscusssomeoftheinitialresultsobtainedinour eldresearch,integratingaquantitativetechniqueofterritorialanalysis,GISmaps,andthequalitativetechniquesofFocusGroupsandethnographicinterviews.Thestudyofseniorcitizens'perceptionsoftheirqualityoflifeinValparaisoindicatesthatthecity'sirregulartopographyandcharacterasaheritagecitymediatehowtheelderlyperceivetheurbanspace,creatingsocialnetworksandasenseofcommunityuniquelytheirown.

©2010ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.

Articlehistory:

Received18March2009

Receivedinrevisedform11June2009Accepted10July2009Keywords:QualityoflifeAgingpopulationSpatialdemography

HeritagecityspaceperceptionNeighborhoodSocialnetworks

Introduction

Populationagingisoneofthegreatdemographictransfor-mationsofourera.Thequantitativeincreaseofsenioragegroupsisnotonlyapartofdemographicevolution;itisalsoanimportantsocialchangethathasconsequencesforourwayofunderstandingandthinkingthecity.Inthissense,itisimportanttoconsiderthatagingisasocialphenomenonandnotaproblem,meaningthatitsconsequencesforsocietyasawholemustbeevaluated.Avarietyofchallengeshaveemergedinurbancontextsthathavetodowithbuildingcitiesthatareintegrativeofolderpeople,leadingtoashifttowardnewpriorities,amongthemthecreationofanurbanenvironmentthatispropitiousandfavourableforaging.Thechallengeisthusoneofbuildingcitiesandneighborhoodsthatareseniorfriendlyandinclusive.

Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+56322621666;fax:+56322477033.E-mailaddresses:gfadda@vtr.net(G.Fadda),alejandra.cortes@usm.cl(A.Cortés),alessandraolivi@idr.es(A.Olivi),mtovar1967@yahoo.com(M.Tovar).1

Tel.:+5632

2654106.0890-4065/$–seefrontmatter©2010ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.doi:

10.1016/j.jaging.2010.07.001

ThisarticlepresentssomeresultsoftheFondecytResearchProject(No.1061179)entitled“QualityofLifeoftheSeniorCitizeninanUrbanHabitat:Valparaiso,aCaseStudy,”whichwereobtainedthroughanintegratedmethodologicalapproach.Theseresultsrefertothisagegroup'sperceptionsoftheirqualityoflife,inreferencetotheirurbanenvironmentandsocialnetworks.

IncarryingoutourstudyofseniorcitizensandtheirrelationshiptoValparaiso'surbanhabitat,weappliedthenotionofqualityoflife—amultidimensionalconceptofgreatvalidityforevaluatingthelivingconditionsandwell-beingofsocialgroupswithinaspeci cenvironment.

Theconceptofqualityoflifeprovidesthetheoreticalandmethodologicalbasisofthisresearch.Itisaneminentlyevaluativeorvalue-relatedconcept,capableofincludingawiderangeofphenomena(bothobjectiveandsubjective),andiseffectiveforassessingthecircumstancesandwell-beingofsocialgroupsintheirhabitat.

Thearticleisstructuredinfourparts:(1)adescriptionofthedemographyofaginghighlightsitsimportanceincitiesinindustrializedandless-industrializedcountries.HereValpar-aisoiscontextualizedwithintheChileanandLatinAmerican

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