Do aging populations have differential accessibility to activities? Analyzing the spatial structure of social, professional, and business opportunities

Accessibility is facilitated by well-organized transportation systems that move people efficiently, and it is improved as more activities are reachable to people given the means of available travel. As the current population ages, it will ultimately challenge those who manage transportation systems in their attempts to satisfy the older population’s basic needs. Scanning the literature, accessibility has not been fully explored in relation to aging and older populations. We construct a systematic quantitative analysis of the older population’s accessibility to potential activities. Given their residential patterns and the prevailing transportation system, we ask whether they have as much potential accessibility to activities as their younger counterparts. Our study area is a smaller metropolitan area in the state of Florida. Using highly disaggregate spatial data containing the locations of populations and possible activities, we implement accessibility models in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment, accounting for mode of transportation. Scenarios and activities analyzed are informed by a review of the broader literature as well as our own analysis of the 2009 National Household Travel Survey. We find that the potential accessibility of the aging population varies by activity type and differs with other age group cohorts. When we look in detail at subgroups within the aging population, the oldest group (those 85+) tends to have higher levels of accessibility.