Quelles mobilités quotidiennes des populations pauvres et vieillissantes à Recife ?

• Main Author: Pamela Quiroga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille 2014-12-01
• Series: Espace populations sociétés
• Subjects: daily mobilities; inequalities; elderly people; neighborhood
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/eps/5841

Accelerated aging of population in Brazil, as in whole Latin America, gives rise to new problems suffering a lack of studies. These are however highly needed in the development of appropriate public policy in the contemporary social context. This observation, coupled with the effects of endemic poverty and inequality present in the studied territory, refers to the issue of daily practices of poor and ageing population in their neighborhood. The scientific literature has shown that residential and daily mobility tend to be reduced when individual enter the aging process; it is a later stage of life that offers both residential stability, often gained through access to property, and a progressive loss of autonomy that limit movement. In a context of poverty, elderly people perform their daily practices within a confined territory and close to the residence area. Therefore, the strengths and weaknesses of this place partly determine the living conditions of the population. If the presence or absence of amenities (shops, services, capital) can lead to different mobilities between individuals, the practices of inhabitants in the territory depend more specifically of socio-demographic population attributes and their collective or individual representations. This article, coming from a PhD research, traces the significant results obtained in the framework of 51 interviews conducted in less-favored areas of the city of Recife. The aim of this study is to highlight the inequalities in access to mobility for elderly people and observing practices and strategies deployed to the neighborhood spaces. It is through this approach that will be emphasized new dynamics observed in these spaces and the living conditions of a population that benefits new social rights and special status within the social and family structures.