Empowering seniors' mobility to maintain a healthy lifestyle

Abstract

Ageing population is one of the most pressing societal issues that current and future generations will need to face. As part of her graduation research, a student from Industrial Design at University of Technology Eindhoven looked at the Dutch context and researched how empowering independent mobility could intrinsically motivate seniors to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The research culminated in a concept, YouGoIGo, which is the subject of this case study. YouGoIGo is a participatory mobility service that aims to suit the needs of every traveller, regardless of their age, physical abilities or access to technology. The service lets anyone become a “travel buddy”, by matching seniors and regular travellers according to their planned routes and providing rewards. In this case study, we will firstly illustrate the steps of the participatory design process used to develop YouGoIGo; secondly, we will discuss which probes have been designed to collect quantitative/qualitative data (from different stakeholders and users) and how they have been deployed. As an example of innovation by intersecting engineering, social sciences and design, this case study aims to contribute towards a body of research that looks at holistic prevention and intervention systems, to engage the elderlies in healthy lifestyles.