Hotspot approaches to ageing studies : employing space, time and geodemographics to understand safety for the elder adult

Abstract

The elder adults partake to activities based on the environment within which they operate. The dynamic interactionism that occurs in an ecology defined by the social and physical boundaries requires a seachange in the ways elder adults studies are undertaken. Theoretical approaches such as environmental criminology, urban ecology, social disorganisation, routine activity, opportunity and structuration point towards the relationship between the increase in crime and the changing social realities brought about by landuse change, in turn effecting elder adults’ interactions. The study of the elder adults in such a scenario requires the employment of environmental criminology theory which investigates crime and victimisation and their relation to place and space (Bottoms and Wiles, 2001).