Enhancing Mobility for Older Adults: Insights from Land Use in the U.S. and Japan
As America’s population ages, the need to provide safe and efficient mobility from far-flung suburbs and subdivisions grows more acute. Our current transportation systems, land use, and development patterns all but mandate private car ownership and driving – which is both expensive for seniors on fixed incomes, and more concerningly, dangerous: Older drivers are disproportionately represented in deadly car crashes.
What are the options for older people who wish to “age in place” in their communities, but either can’t afford to drive, or can no longer do so safely? In A tale of two aging nations: How do urban designs impact older adults’ mobility in automobile versus transit societies?, Ashley Wan-Tzu Lo and Suman Kumar Mitra explore how urban design impacts the mobility of older adults in two contrasting environments: the automobile-oriented United States, and transit-oriented Tokyo, Japan.
Key Takeaways
- Older adults in Tokyo were more likely to take “active” trips (i.e., walk or bike) or ride transit, but less likely to drive.
- Older adults living in larger, denser cities with more accessible transit are more likely to make trips out of the house, less likely to rely on cars, and more likely to engage in social activities outside the home.
- Proximity to transit affects older adults’ likelihood of using transit: those who live closer to stations are more likely to use transit, less likely to drive, and tend to drive less than older adults who live further from transit stations.
The study, conducted by Ashley Wan-Tzu Lo and Suman Kumar Mitra, aims to understand how urban design influences mobility and activity patterns of older adults; and they do so by comparing the travel behaviors of older adults (aged 65 and older) in the U.S. and Japan using data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) in the U.S. and the 2018 Tokyo Person Trip Survey (PTS) in Japan.
To control for selection bias in where people choose to live, the researchers employed Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to match individuals with similar characteristics from both countries, focusing on those living in areas with varying levels of transit accessibility and urban density.
The researchers found that older adults who live in denser neighborhoods in larger cities with robust rail systems are more likely to get out of the house, less likely to rely on cars, and more likely to make specifically social trips for shopping and dining. Further, these effects are varied by proximity to transit: those who lived closer to train stations got out more and drove less than those who lived further away.
These findings are particularly relevant for California, where 96% of residential land is zoned for single family homes, which leaves seniors with few options to downsize into a more age-appropriate home without leaving the communities they’ve known for decades. By legalizing age-appropriate homes like ADUs and small apartment buildings with elevators, we can help seniors stay in their neighborhoods without forcing them to stay in inaccessible single family homes that no longer fit their needs.