Neighbourhood walks as place-making in later life

For older people living in densely populated urban neighbourhoods, walking is an important mode of everyday mobility: it allows to engage in neighbourhood social life and can mitigate physiological decline, which is emphasised in healthy ageing discourses. However, walking is also a means through which meanings about the places of one's everyday life are (re)produced and, hence, contributes to feelings of illbeing and wellbeing. In this paper, we provide a phenomenological account of older adults' place-making practices through walking. In examining this topic, we draw on twelve walking interviews with older adults living independently in two urban neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Our findings reveal that although our respondents developed a sense of 'insideness' through their spatial and social routes and routines, these same routes and routines also acted as exclusionary mechanisms. We argue that these 'meaningful movements', characterised by ambivalence, remain underexposed in healthy ageing discourses. Paying attention to these feelings and experiences would allow for a better understanding of the facilitators and impediments of walking in later life and its effect on social and emotional wellbeing. This paper concludes by providing implications for policy and planning practice in developing age-friendly and walkable neighbourhoods.