IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v39y2007i8p1943-1960.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Outdoor Environments, Activity and the Well-Being of Older People: Conceptualising Environmental Support

Author

Listed:
  • Takemi Sugiyama
  • Catharine Ward Thompson

    (OPENspace Research Centre, Edinburgh College of Art, 79 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2HJ, Scotland)

Abstract

Although the outdoor environment provides older people with various opportunities to enhance their quality of life (QOL), few studies have investigated the extent to which this environment is influential in practice. In order to enable empirical research on this topic, in this paper we propose and examine the concept of environmental support. On the basis of a review of recent literature in gerontology, public health, environmental psychology, landscape architecture, and urban design, we argue that the supportiveness of neighbourhood environments that make outdoor activity (eg, walking) easy and enjoyable is conducive to a better QOL for older people. We introduce three ways of conceptualising environmental support focusing on the following: personally meaningful outdoor activities, environmental attributes found relevant to people's activities, and unmet needs for daily activities. Several conceptual frameworks that incorporate environmental support, QOL and other potentially salient constructs are also presented. We suggest possible future research directions employing this concept.

Suggested Citation

  • Takemi Sugiyama & Catharine Ward Thompson, 2007. "Outdoor Environments, Activity and the Well-Being of Older People: Conceptualising Environmental Support," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(8), pages 1943-1960, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:39:y:2007:i:8:p:1943-1960
    DOI: 10.1068/a38226
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a38226
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a38226?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mitchell P. LaPlante & H. Stephen Kaye & Taewoon Kang & Charlene Harrington, 2004. "Unmet Need for Personal Assistance Services: Estimating the Shortfall in Hours of Help and Adverse Consequences," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 59(2), pages 98-108.
    2. Brian Roe & Elena G. Irwin & Hazel A. Morrow-Jones, 2004. "The Effects of Farmland, Farmland Preservation, and Other Neighborhood Amenities on Housing Values and Residential Growth," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 80(1), pages 55-75.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Donggen Wang & Fenglong Wang, 2016. "Contributions of the Usage and Affective Experience of the Residential Environment to Residential Satisfaction," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 42-60, January.
    2. Bo-Wei Zhu & Jia-Rui Zhang & Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng & Shan-Lin Huang & Lei Xiong, 2017. "Public Open Space Development for Elderly People by Using the DANP-V Model to Establish Continuous Improvement Strategies towards a Sustainable and Healthy Aging Society," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-29, March.
    3. Shiwang Yu & Yong Liu & Caiyun Cui & Bo Xia, 2019. "Influence of Outdoor Living Environment on Elders’ Quality of Life in Old Residential Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Engel, L. & Chudyk, A.M. & Ashe, M.C. & McKay, H.A. & Whitehurst, D.G.T. & Bryan, S., 2016. "Older adults' quality of life – Exploring the role of the built environment and social cohesion in community-dwelling seniors on low income," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-11.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Caruso, Geoffrey & Peeters, Dominique & Cavailhes, Jean & Rounsevell, Mark, 2007. "Spatial configurations in a periurban city. A cellular automata-based microeconomic model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 542-567, September.
    2. Johnston, Robert J. & Ramachandran, Mahesh & Schultz, Eric T. & Segerson, Kathleen & Besedin, Elena Y., 2011. "Characterizing Spatial Pattern in Ecosystem Service Values when Distance Decay Doesn’t Apply: Choice Experiments and Local Indicators of Spatial Association," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103374, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Joshua Duke & Lori Lynch, 2007. "Gauging support for innovative farmland preservation techniques," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 40(2), pages 123-155, June.
    4. Biancamaria Torquati & Giulia Giacchè & Tiziano Tempesta, 2020. "Landscapes and Services in Peri-Urban Areas and Choice of Housing Location: An Application of Discrete Choice Experiments," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Paul Gottlieb, 2013. "Agricultural preservation, large-lot zoning, and real estate development in New Jersey, USA," ERSA conference papers ersa13p513, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Jean Cavailhès & Mohamed Hilal & Pierre Wavresky, 2011. "Urban influence of farmland prices and its impact on agriculture [L'influence urbaine sur le prix des terres agricoles et ses conséquences pour l'agriculture]," Post-Print hal-02645617, HAL.
    7. Reagan A. Baughman & Kristin E. Smith, 2012. "Labor Mobility Of The Direct Care Workforce: Implications For The Provision Of Long‐Term Care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(12), pages 1402-1415, December.
    8. Momtaz, Yadollah Abolfathi & Hamid, Tengku Aizan & Ibrahim, Rahimah, 2012. "Unmet needs among disabled elderly Malaysians," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(5), pages 859-863.
    9. Xiangping Liu & Lori Lynch, 2011. "Do Agricultural Land Preservation Programs Reduce Farmland Loss? Evidence from a Propensity Score Matching Estimator," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(2), pages 183-201.
    10. Coline Perrin & Camille Clément & Romain Melot & Brigitte Nougarèdes, 2020. "Preserving Farmland on the Urban Fringe: A Literature Review on Land Policies in Developed Countries," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, July.
    11. Jean Cavailhès & Pierre Frankhauser & Dominique Peeters & Isabelle Thomas, 2010. "Residential equilibrium in a multifractal metropolitan area," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(3), pages 681-704, December.
    12. Gottlieb, Paul D. & O’Donnell, Anthony & Rudel, Thomas & O’Neill, Karen & McDermott, Melanie, 2012. "Determinants of local housing growth in a multi-jurisdictional region, along with a test for nonmarket zoning," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 296-309.
    13. Waverijn, Geeke & Heijmans, Monique & Groenewegen, Peter P., 2017. "Neighbourly support of people with chronic illness; is it related to neighbourhood social capital?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 110-117.
    14. Jean Cavailhès & Thierry Brossard & Jean-Christophe Foltête & Mohamed Hilal & Daniel Joly & François-Pierre Tourneux & Céline Tritz & Pierre Wavresky, 2009. "GIS-Based Hedonic Pricing of Landscape," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 44(4), pages 571-590, December.
    15. Galen Newman & Jesse Saginor, 2016. "Priorities for Advancing the Concept of New Ruralism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, March.
    16. Thomas Coisnon & Walid Oueslati & Julien Salanié, 2013. "Spatial targeting of agri-environmental policy and urban development," Post-Print halshs-00949730, HAL.
    17. Votsis, Athanasios, 2017. "Planning for green infrastructure: The spatial effects of parks, forests, and fields on Helsinki's apartment prices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 279-289.
    18. Banzhaf, H. Spencer, 2009. "Economics at the Fringe: Non-Market Valuation Studies and their Role in Land Use Plans in the United States," MPRA Paper 101193, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Baughman Reagan, 2018. "Employment in Long-Term Care: The Role of Macroeconomic Conditions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, October.
    20. Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Nguyen, Quynh Ngoc, 2023. "Disabilities and Care Needs among Older People: Evidence from Vietnam," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1244, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:39:y:2007:i:8:p:1943-1960. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.