The purpose of the eight month study was to explore the public life of the elderly population, while learning to understand the important role neighborhoods play in the overall well-being of their everyday lives. According to Gardner, these environments are vital locations for informal public life called third places (e.g., parks, grocery stores and coffee shops). Preparing for, traveling to, and engaging in these public sites, often promotes healthy aging through daily physical and social interactions called community networking.
The article describes neighborhoods as geographic places of well/poor being for those that live there. They represent important sites for researcher’s to examine the interrelationships between aging, place, and health. …show more content…
According to Gardner, she focused on using the friendly visiting method- which integrates qualitative verbal and visual methods from community based programs and regular scheduled in-home visits where conversation is the main activity. The go-along method-provided her with bi-weekly face-to-face contact that took both parties outside the home to engage others within their key places. It is important to note, that as we age our daily responsibilities might become less important, but the need for a sense of belonging and useful purpose does not diminish. Within this study the author also mentions key places-called third places (cafes, post office, barber shop/hairdresser, etc.) and transitory zones (side-walks, seats on buses, streets, etc.) {Gardner, 2011 Table 1}. It is within these neutral neighborhoods (home away from home) that she watched the participants characteristics change (relaxed, feeling of self-worth, confident, important, etc.) and her conclusion would be, that the aging population needed these informal places to continue to lead meaningful and productive lives. While these neighborhoods might never replace or take away the importance of informal systems (family, friends, social services); the article makes the reader aware of these places and the need for aging adults to keep mentally, physically, and socially involved within their
The article describes neighborhoods as geographic places of well/poor being for those that live there. They represent important sites for researcher’s to examine the interrelationships between aging, place, and health. …show more content…
According to Gardner, she focused on using the friendly visiting method- which integrates qualitative verbal and visual methods from community based programs and regular scheduled in-home visits where conversation is the main activity. The go-along method-provided her with bi-weekly face-to-face contact that took both parties outside the home to engage others within their key places. It is important to note, that as we age our daily responsibilities might become less important, but the need for a sense of belonging and useful purpose does not diminish. Within this study the author also mentions key places-called third places (cafes, post office, barber shop/hairdresser, etc.) and transitory zones (side-walks, seats on buses, streets, etc.) {Gardner, 2011 Table 1}. It is within these neutral neighborhoods (home away from home) that she watched the participants characteristics change (relaxed, feeling of self-worth, confident, important, etc.) and her conclusion would be, that the aging population needed these informal places to continue to lead meaningful and productive lives. While these neighborhoods might never replace or take away the importance of informal systems (family, friends, social services); the article makes the reader aware of these places and the need for aging adults to keep mentally, physically, and socially involved within their