Comparing walking accessibility variations between groceries and other retail activities for seniors

Abstract

This paper aims to compare walking accessibility levels between groceries and other types of retail for seniors, examining whether patterns are uniform (or not). The city of Granada, Spain served as case study. First, a questionnaire was administered with persons older than 55 years, assessing their willingness to reach different types of retail opportunities on foot. A total of 202 valid responses were obtained (171 face-to-face and 31 online): 56% women, average age 69 years old, 20% living alone, and average monthly family income between €1000-€2000. Second, the K-modes clustering algorithm was used to identify four seniors sub-groups: “non-motorized seniors between 65 and 75”, “motorized seniors between 65 and 75”, “non-motorized seniors older than 75”, and “motorized seniors younger than 65”. The variables used were: age, car availability, household income, and household composition. Third, by using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (p-level <0.05), a comparison of time-willingness functions to walk to retail was made between seniors sub-groups. The results revealed that walking accessibility to groceries are not significantly different among those sub-groups, while the accessibility levels to weekly retail are significantly lower for the “motorized seniors younger than 65” for time-willingness slots of 20–30 min. R software was used for statistical analysis.