The power of daily mobility: Unlocking Healthy Aging in Place from a Cross-Border Perspective

Older people increasingly seek to age at home. Studies on the subject refer to the process by which this familiar surroundings, constituting the "home", supports their physical, social, and mental well-being during aging as "healthy aging in place" (HAiP). However, the way these surroundings act is not yet well understood in the literature. In this doctoral MobInPlace project, we propose to study the daily spatial mobility practices of older people, and thereby the surroundings and activities they undertake, to better understand their cultural, geographical, and individual determinants, in a cross-border perspective.This study will fill three research gaps in studies on HAiP for older people. Firstly, the definition and boundaries of this "place" are not clear, as until now it has primarily been studied from an identity perspective rather than a spatial one. We therefore do not fully understand how housing and the neighborhood support HAiP. Secondly, the way older people coordinate mobility practices outside the home and immobility within it is relatively unknown,
even though immobility is not necessarily linked to an inability to move and can be a chosen way of life. Thirdly, no study has addressed the daily mobility of seniors on both sides of the border in France and Luxembourg, while these daily mobility patterns can be different. This is particularly due to the composition of their populations and behaviors (e.g., high migration in Luxembourg, low in Lorraine), as well as differences in public policies supporting autonomy, which can impact housing markets, care demands and local amenities differently on either side of the border. To fill these research gaps, MobInPlace offers an original cross-border comparative study regarding the behaviors and living surroundings of older people in Luxembourg and France.
Moreover, it proposes to study mobility and immobility practices, as well as the characteristics of individuals' indoor and outdoor surroundings, to better understand HAiP. Our central hypothesis posits that familiar surroundings, which support healthy aging, are both shaped and reshaped by the mobility and immobility practices of older adults, as well as their activities within those places, but, conversely, the opposite is also true. It will draw on the expertise of the MAMBHA project of LISER in Luxembourg (funded by FNR and SNSF) and HILAUSENIORS of the CNAV in France (funded by ANR), each offering its expertise and support in this project through a co-supervisor. More precisely, the MobInPlace project will focus on a comparative analysis of spatial mobility practices in Luxembourg and Northern Lorraine, on both sides of the border, as well as on data from the HILAUSENIORS and MAMBHA projects on housing and GPS tracking of older people in each country. Finally, the SHARE survey will ensure the robustness of the results, thanks to the 20-year longitudinal monitoring of the well-being, health, and activities of people over 50 in Luxembourg and France. This research will assist policymakers in both countries, particularly those affiliated with MAMBHA and HILAUSENIORS, to better support the well-being and autonomy of aging older people.