Abstract

COSTA, Nuno Marques da; COSTA, Eduarda Marques da  and  LOURO, Ana. The everyday life of elderly people in portuguese cities in times of pandemic. An approach to the age-friendly city. Finisterra [online]. 2023, n.123, pp.7-39.  Epub Aug 30, 2023. ISSN 0430-5027.  https://doi.org/10.18055/finis32465.

Aging forces us to rethink cities as an incentive for opportunities in the daily life of the olderly. After the pandemic confinement, it was applied a survey in the context of the GRAMPCITY Project, between 2020 and 2021, to 403 people with 65 years old or more from six study areas in Portugal - Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), subdivided into the city of Lisbon, North LMA and South LMA; adding three medium cities - Aveiro, Coimbra and Faro and its areas of influence - were asked about their living conditions, living spaces, housing context, relational dynamics and forms of mobility. This article aims 1) understand how the experiences of the olderly people, through their practices and problems, are aligned with what constitute aspects present in the Age-friendly cities, especially in the context of a pandemic; and 2) to identify regional differences between study areas. The results show constraints to quality aging, reinforced by the pandemic, such as: living on the top floors without access to an elevator; difficulty on walking or parking or the lack of food stores or social spaces; and the duality between the support provided by family members and neighbors in a pandemic and the decrease in visits to them. Thus, a regional differentiation in the practices and perceptions of the respondents became evident, distancing the metropolitan context from the reality of medium-sized cities, namely in terms of housing conditions, relations with the community and the impact that the pandemic brought to daily life. It is concluded that some of the studied aspects deserve greater attention for an effective promotion of the Age-Friendly City, requiring a specific vision of each territory and community.

Keywords : Olderly people; Age-Friendly City; active aging; urban environment; perceptions.

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