Environmental Gerontology at the Beginning of the New Millennium

Reflections on Its Historical, Empirical, and Theoretical Development

Bibliographic Data

ID23345113
AuthorsHans-Werner Wahl (0000-0003-0625-3239, Heidelberg University, corresponding author), Gerald D Weisman (German Society of Surgery)
Year2003
Volume43
Issue5
Pages616-627
Publication date2003-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Gerontologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-9013 • E-ISSN: 1758-5341
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/geront/43.5.616
PMID14570958
OpenAlexW2059741706
LanguageEN
Citations received99
References cited26

Over the past four decades the environmental context of aging has come to play an important role in gerontological theory, research, and practice. Environmental gerontology (EG)--focused on the description, explanation, and modification or optimization of the relation between elderly persons and their sociospatial surroundings--has emerged as a subfield in its own right. The aim of this article is to reflect on the historical, empirical, and theoretical development of recent EG, following Parmelee and Lawton's diagnosis from 1990 that there is a need to move the field beyond its current languishing state. From a historical perspective, EG has clearly played an important and successful role within the gerontology enterprise in terms of explicit consideration of the sociophysical environment in theory and research. A literature analysis of empirical studies supports the view that research has continued on a substantial quantitative level during the 1990s. Findings of these research studies address the whole diversity of classic EG research questions, but mostly in the sense of replication and extension. In terms of theoretical discussion, our analysis leads to the insight that EG may be described as a field high in conceptual aspiration ("world views"), but low with regard to making research and application-productive use of its theoretical achievements.

Context (archaeology) · Development theory · Diversity (politics) · Economic growth · Empirical research · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Extension (predicate logic) · Field (mathematics) · Perspective (graphical) · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Health disparities and outcomes · History · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Psychology · Urban Transport and Accessibility

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