Environmental Gerontology at the Beginning of the New Millennium: Reflections on Its Historical, Empirical, and Theoretical Development

Abstract

Over the past four decades the environmental context of aging has come to play an important role in gerontological theory, research, and practice. Environmental gerontology (EG)--focused on the description, explanation, and modification or optimization of the relation between elderly persons and their sociospatial surroundings--has emerged as a subfield in its own right. The aim of this article is to reflect on the historical, empirical, and theoretical development of recent EG, following Parmelee and Lawton's diagnosis from 1990 that there is a need to move the field beyond its current languishing state. From a historical perspective, EG has clearly played an important and successful role within the gerontology enterprise in terms of explicit consideration of the sociophysical environment in theory and research. A literature analysis of empirical studies supports the view that research has continued on a substantial quantitative level during the 1990s. Findings of these research studies address the whole diversity of classic EG research questions, but mostly in the sense of replication and extension. In terms of theoretical discussion, our analysis leads to the insight that EG may be described as a field high in conceptual aspiration ("world views"), but low with regard to making research and application-productive use of its theoretical achievements.

Barriers to outdoor physical activity and unmet physical activity need in older adults

“…Environmental gerontology applies the ecological model of aging in investigating how well older people function in the environment in which they live. Environmental gerontology is a multidimensional subfield of gerontology, with a main research focus on the physical environments in which older people live (Wahl & Weisman 2003). An older person is exposed to various challenges presented by the environment, and the capabilities of the person to meet those challenges define the extent of person-environment fit (P-E fit).…”

“…However, the physical environment includes not only the area but also the built or natural features that either facilitate or hinder movement. A substantial part of research in gerontology is focused on the home or the neighborhood, which is understandable as in old age people spend an increasing amount of their time at home or in its environs (Wahl & Weisman 2003). This highlights the importance of having an accessible environment, as this has been shown to have an effect on older people's health and functioning (Yen, Michael & Perdue 2009).…”

Ambiente físico-social y envejecimiento de la población desde la gerontología ambiental y geografía: Implicaciones socioespaciales en América Latina

“…En la actualidad, diferentes expertos (Wahl & Weisman, 2003) ponen en duda algunas de las principales teorías de la gerontología ambiental 13 , como el modelo ecológico 12 Las experiencias cartográfi cas a través de la educación geográfi ca entre las personas mayores pueden propiciar su participación y la formulación de propuestas para mejorar su entorno (Duarte et al, 2009). 13 En las últimas décadas en la gerontología ambiental han coexistido diferentes modelos teóricos (Fernández-Trocóniz y Fernández-Ballesteros, 1990), derivados y/o críticos con el modelo ecológico de la competencia (Lawton & Nahemow, 1973), como el modelo de la congruencia y el modelo integrador (Carp & Carp, 1984).…”

Challenges of cross-national housing research with older persons: lessons from the ENABLE-AGE project

“…This is particularly true as such foundations are still much under debate, particularly in the area of housing and health in ageing research (Gitlin 2003;Wahl and Weisman 2003). A broad variety of concepts such as environmental press, person-environment fit, environmental congruence, accessibility, place attachment and residential satisfaction have been introduced over the years (Wahl and Weisman 2003).…”

“…In addition, qualified research on housing and health requires an interdisciplinary approach (Iwarsson 2004;Wahl and Weisman 2003), but documentation is scarce on the challenges in such research endeavours involving different disciplines. In terms of methodological challenges the standards and methods of rigorous empirical research dealing with housing in old age are still not well developed (Gitlin 1998;Iwarsson 2004).…”