Grant: Team Grant-Joint call for Res Appl (JCRA) Ageing Res-ERA-AGE2

!see proposal for entire abstract! Background: Research has shown that key factors of healthy aging such as level of physical activity, social participation or mobility can vary depending on where older adults live. Yet we still fail to understand how environments influence healthy aging. In a context of aging populations and growing urbanization, calls have been issued for more sustainable urban (re-)development and implementation of local solutions to address global environmental and health issues. To date, few studies have accounted for daily mobility of older adults in order to understand how individual social, cultural or financial resources and the characteristics of life environment interact to produce healthy aging profiles. However, novel sensors such as GPS devices or accelerometers - which measure the level of energy we spend - now make it possible to gather precise information on people's daily mobility, levels of physical activity, or to assess perceptions or feelings at given times. Combining such data with classical questionnaires on perceived environments and qualitative assessment of experience of places opens new opportunities to better understand how the environments we live in influence healthy aging. Objective: Consequently, this project aims to develop an international platform and research agenda to collect and analyse detailed data on daily mobility and health outcomes among older adults participating in two existing cohorts and one developing cohort and living in contrasted urban settings in three large cities: Montreal, Paris and Luxembourg. Methods: Participants in these cohorts will wear a device that will automatically collect information on location (GPS) and physical activity (accelerometer) for a period of seven days. They will also answer questionnaires on how they perceive their environment, how they feel, and how they have 'experienced' their surroundings. This rich data will be ... (see proposal for entire abstract).