Speaker
Description
The baby boomer cohort, which makes up around a quarter of Germany's population, is gradually retiring. Individual time budgets are changing radically as a result; activities that were previously assigned to ‘recreation’ and ‘leisure’ (e.g. active sports, shopping, excursions) determine everyday behaviour and mobility. Additionally, the advancing digitalisation of almost all areas of life is opening up new opportunities in urban and rural areas, changing everyday practices and spatial relationships, e.g. through platform-economy, booking services and e-commerce (Parker, et al. 2016). At the same time, it can be assumed that hobbies and activities will be retained during the transition to retirement and adaptation to the new phase of life (Kohli, Künemund 2000). In municipalities, the ageing population and digitalisation pose new challenges. Comparatively little is known about the assessment of activities, neighbourhoods and communities by baby boomers and the consequences for local stakeholders.
This article focuses on the following questions: Which municipal services are used by baby boomers and how are they evaluated? How do babyboomers deal with digital services and tools? What socio-structural and spatial differences are evident and can population groups with a high level of dissatisfaction be identified? The aim of the article is to analyse what action is required to improve the participation of baby boomers in different settlement areas.
The data basis is a representative survey of 50- to 75-year-olds, conducted by the Department of Urban Sociology in 2022 as part of the project ‘Ageing Smart - designing spaces intelligently’ in seven municipalities (rural, suburban, urban) in three federal states (see www.ageing-smart; funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung).
Literature:
Kohli, M.; Künemund, H. (Hrsg.) 2000: Die zweite Lebenshälfte. Gesellschaftliche Lage und Partizipation im Spiegel des Alters-Survey, Opladen: Leske+Budrich.
Parker, G.; Van Alstyne, M. V.; Choudary, S. P. (2016): Platform revolution: how network markets are transforming the economy – and how to make them work for you. New York: W.W. Norton.
References
Kohli, M.; Künemund, H. (Hrsg.) 2000: Die zweite Lebenshälfte. Gesellschaftliche Lage und Partizipation im Spiegel des Alters-Survey, Opladen: Leske+Budrich.
Parker, G.; Van Alstyne, M. V.; Choudary, S. P. (2016): Platform revolution: how network markets are transforming the economy – and how to make them work for you. New York: W.W. Norton.
| Keywords | Babyboomer; urban; rural; suburban; opportunities; activities; leisure; digitalisation |
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