scholarly journals Limited Space: Elderly People's Meanings of the City in the Time of Pandemic

Inter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Konstantin Galkin

The study examines the specifics of changes in the meanings of the city in interviews with older people. The author shows what restrictions in the use of material and social resources exist in urban spaces, how these restrictions are interrelated and how they create peculiarities in the interpretation of the meanings of cities by older people. The empirical basis of the study was 20 semi-structured interviews and 15 observation diaries with elderly people from St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk, which were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic from April 14 to June 1, 2020. The key findings of the study relate to the different interpretations of urban spaces present in the locations where the study was conducted; secondly, how the limited material resources of the city and the perceived tightness of older people within one space affect social resources. In addition, the question is raised as to how the lack of material resources can be compensated through social resources, such as volunteer assistance. The presence of volunteers is limited in various cities, and restrictions on the provision of volunteer assistance are a serious problem for a large city of regional significance — Petrozavodsk.

Author(s):  
Konstantin Galkin

The article considers a new approach to the research of aging — material gerontology and the application of this approach to the empirical study of the everyday life of elderly people who are in boarding schools and living separately. The article answers the question of how aging is collected within the framework of the interactions of older people with material and social resources present in two different environments in which older people are located. The article uses the concept of tunability of material and social resources, on the basis of which conclusions are drawn about how the assemblies of aging as a complex inhomogeneous category occur in various environments. Different environments are a nursing home in the city of Petrozavodsk and villages in Karelia, where elderly people live separately. A total of 20 biographical interviews with elderly people (n = 20) and 16 semi-structured interviews (n = 16) with nurses and volunteers working in a boarding house were collected. The article aims to fill the gap in the study of aging, which consists, firstly, in the absence of social research on aging through the prism of considering the material and social resources (actors) present in various environments and collecting aging, and secondly, in the absence of discussion about the possibilities of applying material gerontology in social research and the features of the application of this direction. To fill these gaps, I empirically illustrate the features and roles of material and social resources in the lives of older people and show how aging processes occur and how material and social resources can affect the agency of older people. The study shows that, depending on the environment in which the assemblies of aging take place, its meanings and the understanding of the tunability and features of the tunability of material and social resources by older people also differ.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 193-210
Author(s):  
Konstantin A. Galkin

The article discusses the issue of social exclusion of elderly people in rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author relies on the concept that defines social exclusion as a mechanism for separating a certain group of people from an integral community. Using the example of several respondents, the article examines the effects that social exclusion of elderly people creates in rural areas, as well as possible ways of their adaptation that can minimise it. The empirical basis of the work is collected by the author 20 semi-structured interviews with elderly people living in rural areas in the Republic of Karelia and 20 diaries of their observations. When analysing interviews and diaries, a thematic method was used. The main result of the study is the identification of various fears and characteristics of the perception of social exclusion as a condition associated with changes in the habitual everyday life, as well as the lifestyle of respondents due to isolation. The main conclusion highlights the various fears presented in the perceptions of social exclusion by elderly people associated with changes in the usual everyday life due to isolation. The study also identifies the most effective ways for adaptation of elderly people to minimise their social exclusion: expanding communication with neighbours, translating communication into digital format. The data obtained by the author also allow us to draw a conclusion about changes in the sociological consideration of ageing. It becomes not a state of inclusiveness and activity, integration of elderly people into society, as modern concepts and approaches denote it (for example, the concept of active longevity), but a state that is primarily determined by physical weakness. The need for isolation, as well as limitation of activity, is becoming a forced measure that negatively affects older people and the characteristics of their perception of their age and the situation of a pandemic. This work contributes to the latest research into the understanding of ageing in the context of forced social exclusion in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.


2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (suppl 4) ◽  
pp. 1540-1547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Aparecida Baggio ◽  
Rosilene Berres ◽  
Bruna Penteado Silva Gregolin ◽  
Solange Aikes

ABSTRACT Objective: to understand the introduction of the School Health Program in the city of Cascavel, Paraná State, as opposed to the report of nurses. Method: a qualitative study with fifteen participants. The data were collected from April to August 2015, through semi-structured interviews, analyzed by content analysis and thematic modality. Results: the category “Introduction process” of the School Health Program integrates the subcategories “Identified health problems” and the “Challenges of intersectoriality”. The program was implemented quickly, with a fragile training of professionals to perform in the phases that compose it. Structural conditions of schools, human and material resources, and emerging intersectoral interaction were identified obstacles. The integration of the health, school, and family constitutes the program’s potentiality. Final considerations: it is understood that the actions of the program were based on health assessments of students, and it is necessary for professionals and managers to discuss and analyze the obstacles identified to achieve all the proposed objectives.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 785-808 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELISABETH ZEITLER ◽  
LAURIE BUYS

ABSTRACTGovernments are challenged by the need to ensure that ageing populations stay active and engaged as they age. Therefore, it is critical to investigate the role of mobility in older people's engagement in out-of-home activities, and to identify the experiences they have within their communities. This research investigates the use of transportation by older people and its implications for their out-of-home activities within suburban environments. The qualitative, mixed-method approach employs data collection methods which include a daily travel diary (including a questionnaire), Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking and semi-structured interviews with older people living in suburban environments in Brisbane, Australia. Results show that older people are mobile throughout the city, and their car provides them with that opportunity to access desired destinations. This ability to drive allows older people to live independently and to assist others who do not drive, particularly where transport alternatives are not as accessible. The ability to transport goods and other people is a significant advantage of the private car over other transport options. People with no access to private transportation who live in low-density environments are disadvantaged when it comes to participation within the community. Further research is needed to better understand the relationship between transportation and participation within the community environment, to assist policy makers and city and transportation planners to develop strategies for age-friendly environments within the community.


Author(s):  
К. А. Галкин

В статье рассматриваются особенности заботы и ухода за пожилыми людьми в двух кейсах, которые представляют собой частные дома-интернаты для людей старше 60 лет. В частности, рассматривается создание заботы в условиях альтернативных возможностей, организация альтернативной заботы о пожилых людях в таких учреждениях и особенности формирования подобной заботы. В исследовании рассмотрены вопросы о соотношении формальных (институциональных) норм заботы о пожилых людях и неформальных правил, которые создаются сотрудниками частных домов-интернатов для пожилых людей, имеющих ограниченную профессионализацию в сфере работы с людьми старше 60 лет. Роль неформальных правил в рамках создания заботы о пожилых людях важна с точки зрения расширения агентности пожилых людей и их инклюзии в социум. В исследовании проанализировано сочетание особенностей формальных и неформальных правил по осуществлению заботы. На примере двух кейсов, полуструктурированных интервью с сотрудниками и администрацией, волонтёрами частных домовинтернатов ( n =30) автор показывает, что забота, которая формируется в частных домах-интернатах для пожилых людей, может достаточно сильно отличаться в зависимости от расположения учреждения, особенностей сотрудников и их профессионализации. Для более глобального пространства крупного города регионального значения забота о пожилых людях оказывается чётко регламентированной различными нормами и стандартами. Особенности заботы частного дома-интерната в сельской местности заключаются в персонифицированной заботе и создании больших возможностей для активности пожилых людей. The article discusses the features of care and care for the older in two cases, which are private nursing homes for people over sixty years of age. In particular, is the creation of concern in terms of great opportunities, the organization of alternative care for older people in such institutions and how such concerns. The study examines the relationship between formal (institutional) norms of social care for the older and informal rules that are created by employees of private nursing homes for the older who have limited professionalization in the field of work with people over sixty years of age. The role of informal rules in creating care for older people is important in terms of including the agency of older people and their inclusion in society. The study analyzes the combination of features of formal and informal rules for the implementation of care. Using the example of two cases, semi-structured interviews with employees and administration, volunteers of private nursing homes ( n =30), the author shows that the care that is formed in private nursing homes for the older can differ quite significantly depending on the location of the institution, the characteristics of employees and their professionalization For a more global space of a large city of regional significance care for the elderly is clearly regulated by various norms and standards. Features of care of a private nursing homes in rural areas consist in personalized care and creating greater opportunities for the activities of older people.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 24-29
Author(s):  
Anna Zhogoleva ◽  
◽  
Tatyana Polukeeva

The city develops over time, creating a continuous series of unique impressions from the perception of urban spaces. Many environmental parameters affect the perception of the urban environment, form the structures of perception and its atmospheric features. Socio-cultural knowledge of the city, expanding the glossary of architectural and urban planning theory, is engaged in the study of such parameters of the urban environment as the time factor of perception, anthropological parameters, the angle and scale of visual perception, urban gaps, which allows you to expand the idea of the city as a unique phenomenon and process. An attempt has been made to investigate the structure of the perception of the urban space of the central part of Samara.


2020 ◽  
pp. 200-220
Author(s):  
José Joaquim Franze

RESUMOConstitui objeto deste artigo compreender a relação entre o crescimento da criminalidade e o processo de urbanização da cidade de Chimoio, em especial nas periferias em expansão, com o fito de aferir o nível organizacional e da eficácia das políticas públicas de segurança e do sistema de justiça criminal. A abordagem é qualitativa, feita através da revisão bibliográfica, análise documental, conversas informais e entrevistas semiestruturadas. Acredita-se que o município de Chimoio, pela sua localização ao longo da principal rodovia que liga sul, norte e centro do país e ao mesmo tempo com a República do Zimbabwe, tem registrado nos últimos anos um crescimento urbano extensivo, resultante, por um lado, da alta taxa de natalidade, e, por outro lado, pela imigração interna e externa, influenciada pela busca de melhores condições de vida, dada a sua natureza “agroindustrial”, que pressiona assim a ocupação dos espaços urbanos periféricos de forma “desordenada”. A ocupação desses espaços tem sido acompanhada pela prática de diversos crimes, dentre eles crimes violentos e não violentos, criando, dessa forma, uma sensação generalizada de medo e insegurança pública da sua população. Para este trabalho, são usados como parâmetros comparativos os estudos da criminalidade realizados na Argélia e África do Sul, devido a idênticas formas de ocupação socioespacial e da maneira como tem sido praticada a criminalidade.PALAVRAS-CHAVEEspaço urbano. Criminalidade. Periferia. Chimoio. Moçambique. ABSTRACTThe purpose of this article is to understand the connection between the growth of criminality and the urbanization process in the city of Chimoio, especially in the expanding peripheries, aiming to assess the organizational level and the effectiveness of the public security policies and of the criminal justice system. The approach is qualitative, performed through bibliographic review, document analysis, informal conversations and semi-structured interviews. It is believed that the municipality of Chimoio, due to its location along the main highway that connects south, north and center of the country and, at the same time, with the Republic of Zimbabwe, has registered in recent years an extensive urban growth, result of, on the one hand, a high birth rate, and, on the other, of internal and external immigration, influenced by the search for better living conditions, given its “agroindustrial” nature, which pressures the “disorderly” occupation of peripheral urban spaces. The occupation of these spaces has been accompanied by the practice of several crimes, among them, violent and non-violent crimes, thus creating a generalized sense of fear and public insecurity among its population. For this work, crime studies carried out in Algeria and South Africa were used as comparative parameters, due to the identical forms of socio-spatial occupation and the way in which crime has been practiced.KEYWORDSUrban space. Crime. Periphery. Chimoio. Mozambique.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehtap Kocatepe

Benson’s (2011a; 2011b) identification of out-of-class learning as constituted by contexts, resources, levels of formality and more and less intentional pedagogic outcomes was used as a framework to investigate a group of tertiary level female Emirati EFL students’ autonomous out-of-class learning experiences. Data collected via a survey, learner journals and semi-structured interviews indicated that out-of-class use of English and out-of-class language learning played a significant role in the lives of students beyond the classroom. These students utilised naturally occurring material resources, in particular movies, television, the Internet and digital and print texts, with varying levels of pedagogic intentionality, in the privacy of homes and perceived such resources as conducive to facilitating language learning. Students created and utilised self-directed naturalistic learning opportunities more than self-instruction and naturalistic learning. The study found that exercising choice and being intrinsically motivated were integral to autonomous out-of-class learning. Discursive resources were influential in enabling or constraining recognition and utilisation of social resources in creating learning opportunities. The paper ends by giving recommendations to educators for creating effective support for autonomous out-of-class language learning.


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