Mobility and accessibility to urban opportunities for disadvantage populations and older adults. research evidences by Mapping and Urban Data Lab

The paper focusses on mobility and accessibility as fundamental conditions for enhancing the individual possibility to participate in valued activities by analysing mobility practices of two urban populations: disadvantage populations and older adults.

Based on the outcomes of two recent research activities, characterized by an explicit operational dimension, the paper will present two approaches finalized to study:

• forms of inequality in job-related mobilities through the construction of a synthetic index (IAO) to identify disadvantaged urban areas in Buenos Aires (Argentina) metropolitan area, characterized by a confluence of problems related to socio-economic deprivations, low accessibility to employment as well as a low mobility and poor quality of transport supply. The proposed approach aims at contributing to outlining tailored measures to guarantee better opportunities, as in the case of people living in areas experiencing sub-standard levels of accessibility to workplaces.
• the pedestrian accessibility to subway stations in Milan (Italy) for older adults. The methodology measures pedestrian accessibility by means of isochrones to specific urban functions, for quantifying the total amount of elderly people living within each isochrones and for evaluating the presence of services around each station. Main aim is the identification of neighbourhoods that present more accessibility problems. The number of inhabitants, and in particular of older adults living in less accessible areas are therefore quantified, such as the number of activities located within walking distance are counted. The methodology can be applied to other spatial contexts and can be furtherly improved by integrating other information in the model.