Life Space Research Articles

Pre-War Greek “Open” Prisons: A Dynamic Spatial Condition

The article explores the unique nature of pre-war Greek agricultural prisons, arguing that these settlements offered aprogressive spatial condition to the enclosed communities. In contrast to Foucault's model of central control andisolation, these prisons incorporated agricultural work and open-air spaces, aiming for rehabilitation through: a)connection with the natural environment and b) assigning responsibilities to the inmates. As Yi-Fu Tuan suggests, wecross-examine conceptual, built, and experienced spaces to explore "...how abstract ideas develop out of those givendirectly to the body...". Following a qualitative research method, we examine three aspects of prison space: spacedefined by the legal system, the built space, the lived space. We present findings on the built structures and lifewithin them, concluding with how culture of enclosed societies contributes to a state's legal and political civilization.We highlight these places as valuable heritage deserving further interdisciplinary investigation by architecture,criminology and anthropology.

The Family as a Place of Experiencing Critical Events – Case Study

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The main aim is to show the narrative of a woman who experienced critical events in her personal life. THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND METHODS: 1. How does the narrator describe critical events based on her family experience? 2. What meaning does she ascribe to the events experienced in retrospect? The presented research is situated in the interpretative research tradition. A descriptive‑theoretical type of case study was used. Empirical data was collected using Fritz Schütze’s narrative interview technique. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The interview began by presenting the narrator’s life story from her childhood to the present day. Attention was paid to her understanding of herself and her life, her relationship with her parents, and critical events that occurred in her family. The empirical material was then interpreted based on Schütze’s process structures, which revealed her current life course, critical events in the family and landmark events in the narrator’s individual biography. RESEARCH RESULTS: The interpretation of the empirical material showed the narrator in the process of change, internal metamorphoses. It revealed poor intra‑family relations, which became the cause of illness, lack of self‑acceptance, and depressive and anxious states. The therapy that she underwent, satisfying professional work and mutual feelings of love allowed the narrator to overcome her limitations, weaknesses and take a critical look at the family relationships that were the cause of her pain and suffering. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The narrative presented in the paper can become a stimulus for change in people who are currently struggling with family problems, illness or suffering: all those people who experience anxiety and loneliness in the space of family life.

Method for identifying rural PLES and its applications

The quantitative identification of rural land functions serves as a basis for rural land planning, coordinated spatial development, and control capacity improvement and is significant for rural transformation and sustainable development. This paper constructs an analysis framework to identify and evaluate “production-living-ecological” space (PLES) in rural areas of central and western China. On the Loess Plateau, which was taken as the study area, a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis was completed to determine framework indicators and their thresholds. Resource and environmental carrying capacity and land suitability were measured through GIS spatial analysis under different land functional orientations. This sought to recognize production space (PS), living space (LS), and ecological space (ES) in rural areas, reveal their distribution patterns on the Loess Plateau, and determine alternative areas for future land use. The results indicate that the PS and LS of the Loess Plateau rural land show a relatively low resource and environmental carrying capacity but vary significantly in different functional regions. The space distribution of PS and LS with higher carrying capacity shows obvious consistency. Although the Loess Plateau has vast sustainable land for development, the intensity of development should be carefully controlled. Additionally, significant regional differences remain in rural PLES, so reasonable future rural land planning should be formulated according to the PLES pattern. This study provides a scientific basis for promoting coordinated development of Loess Plateau rural areas and implementing a rural revitalization strategy. It is also a reference for identifying PLES and its coordinated spatial development in rural central and western China.

The order characteristics of daily life space in Chinese urban communities--a case of Ningbo Green Axis Sports Park

This paper explores the order characteristics of urban daily life spaces in China through ethnographic studies and field research data, with a focus on Ningbo Green Axis Sports Park. The study identifies four key characteristics of urban community daily life spaces: hierarchical "bounded space", rhythmic temporality, physical embodiment, and habitual occupation. In Chinese urban contexts, the delineation between work and life proves challenging, intertwining hierarchical relationships among neighbors and colleagues within public spaces, thereby forming a structured hierarchy of subcultural groups.Individuals engage with colleagues, neighbors, and diverse individuals within daily life spaces to negotiate identity and hierarchy, thereby shaping the social space of the subject through public interactions. Our analysis posits that the orderliness of public spaces hinges upon empowerment and domain delineation; the preservation of order sustains the publicness, social connectivity, and interactive dynamics of such spaces. The tension between publicness and domain delineation may indeed serve as the linchpin of public space efficacy. Consequently, urban planning endeavors should prioritize the orderly attributes of public spaces and foster the development of human-centric urban environments.

Dam Construction, Company Towns and Planned Urban Development: The Example of Salto del Esla, Spain

ABSTRACT Company towns are integral to the urban and territorial changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution, especially in remote, resource-rich areas. Among these, villages constructed alongside dams stand out due to their profound territorial impact. This study focuses on one such unique settlement near the Ricobayo dam in Zamora, Spain, exploring its construction and environmental integration. At its inception, Ricobayo was Europe’s largest dam, its creation marked by notable feats like relocating a church, and pioneering hydraulic engineering and bridge construction, including a record-breaking design by Torroja. The adjacent company town set a precedent for creating liveable spaces for workers in isolated locales, influencing later developments. Research included on-site investigations, archival work at Iberdrola’s Historical Archive, and review of historical texts, underscoring the cultural and landscape significance of 20th-century dam settlements and the distinctive features of Ricobayo’s surroundings.

Embodied spatiality: mapping gendered exclusion and women’s embodied right to the city in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

This study addresses the critical research inquiry surrounding the persistence of gendered urban inequalities and the subsequent exclusion of women in urban settings within the broader context of gender, spatiality, and embodiment. Using feminist geographical theory and informed by Henri Lefebvre’s concept of the right to the city, the study investigates how the spatial characteristics of public spaces, along with underlying gendered dynamics, engender discriminatory and exclusionary practices that restrict women’s right to the city and public lived space. The study collected data through a questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and a mapping exercise utilising open-access Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. The participants were 166 individuals from the historically racially segregated areas of Umlazi, Chatsworth, and Durban Central in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The findings reveal women’s negative experiences and perceptions of the risk of victimisation, which stem from a form of ‘self-imposed exclusion’ from public spaces, thereby limiting their overall right to the city. The study also highlights the intersecting hierarchies of race, gender, age, and nationality that (re)produce intersectional exclusions, contributing to multiple barriers to access. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that women’s exclusion from public spaces and their limited rights to the city results from a complex interplay between embodied ‘self-imposed’ exclusions, intersectional dynamics, and spatial constraints, which collectively infringe their embodied right to the city.

Modeling the Livable City: Urban Ableism Across Borders

The concept of livability is treated as a universal public good, and many cities seek to model those ranked high on livability indexes. In the global livability imaginary, however, certain design features (notably active transportation infrastructures) are prioritized, with livable cities being those designed for bicycling and walking rather than automobiles. This article extends feminist infrastructure theorist Susan Leigh Star’s query, “cui bono?” to the question of “livability for whom?” Drawing on site visits and autoethnographic vignettes of disabled life in supposedly livable spaces, the article argues that infrastructural preferences for able-bodiedness in social and built environments create hidden geographies of urban ableism. In an era of mass-disabling phenomena such as climate change, COVID-19, and housing instability, attending to unequal forms of livability is necessary to design cities for a broad, inclusive range of inhabitants.

Discovering the sensory, emotional, and interactive experiences of a place.

This article proposes a data collection technique for describing experiences of a built environment. Besides the experiences of the visual and physical aspects of the place, this technique helps describe the sensory, bodily, emotional, interactive, and social experiences occurring during the human-environment encounter. The enabling technique presented is called Reactions and Actions Description Survey (RADES). It employs 120 images depicting people going through different situations involving all the senses, showing expressions related to positive and negative emotions, and realizing varied activities. Forty-five participants visited the esplanade in the exterior of a historic building called Obispado. The case study is located on a hill and is a scenic viewpoint of Monterrey, Mexico. The participants answered the RADES and the Environmental Description Survey (ENVIDES), which focuses on describing the qualities of the place and the appraisals with which it is experienced. The comments about the experiences of the place obtained through both surveys were grouped into 133 categories. Qualitative and quantitative data about the experiences of the place were obtained through both techniques. A quantitative analysis of the data was realized since the participants not only described their experiences with words but also indicated numerically the intensity of such experiences. Spearman correlations between the experiences were calculated, and a general map of the experiences of the place was created through multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS). The study revealed the connections between the elements and qualities of the site and the views with specific positive and negative experiences occurring during the visit. Furthermore, MDS allowed the discovery of 10 dimensions of environmental experience-pleasure/displeasure, high/low arousal, dominance/submissiveness, knowing/inhabiting, environment/self, higher/lower cognition, spatiality/materiality, states/processes, natural/built, and visual/sensory. The presented techniques and the findings obtained through them can assist architects in recognizing valuable environmental features for the design of livable spaces.

Life space limitations in visually impaired older adults.

Future work should develop and evaluate interventional strategies to help overcome visual and health-related barriers to travel in visually impaired seniors and mitigate adverse impacts of loneliness for those who do not leave town. Life space refers to the area in which a person travels within a given time period. We explored whether demographics, vision, and/or health characteristics were related to restrictions in self-reported life space for visually impaired seniors. Visually impaired (n = 114) clinical trial participants aged ≥55 years learned visual assistive iPhone apps and completed the following baseline questionnaires: Life Space, 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and New-General Self-efficacy Scale. Multiple logistic regressions evaluated associations between life space and patient factors after accounting for their distance to the next county or state. During 2021 to 2023, 17%, 43%, and 70% of participants had not left their town, county, or state, respectively, in the past 3 months, or planned to in the next 3 months. Those with reduced distance best-corrected visual acuity had greater odds of not leaving the county in these time frames (odds ratio [OR] = 3.5; p=0.04). Minority race was associated with greater odds of not leaving town or the county in the past 2 weeks or future 3 months (OR = 4.3 to 6.4; p=0.009 to 0.049). Increased self-efficacy was associated with reduced odds of not leaving the state in the past 3 months, next 3 months, or past and/or future 3 months (OR = 0.54 to 0.55; p=0.02 to 0.03). Better physical function was associated with reduced odds of not leaving the state in the past 2 weeks or 3 months (OR = 0.96 to 0.98; p=0.01 to 0.04). Increased loneliness was related to greater odds of not leaving town in the past and/or future 3 months (OR = 1.8 to 2.0; p=0.007 to 0.009). Minority race, reduced vision, self-efficacy, and physical health were related to life space restrictions in this cohort of visually impaired seniors, whereas loneliness was greater among those who were not leaving town.

Reliability and validity of a Japanese version of life-space assessment in institutionalized settings

PurposeA reduction in life space (LS) is associated with a negative impact on medical and functional status during hospitalization, with potential consequences after discharge. A validated version of an evaluation tool for assessing LS in Japanese individuals in an institutionalized setting is lacking. This study developed and validated a Japanese version of the Life-Space Assessment in Institutionalized Settings (LSA-IS-J). Material and methodsThe LSA-IS-J was developed using a specified process. This study included 30 inpatients admitted to the rehabilitation ward. The Timed Up and Go Test, Berg Balance Scale scores, 10-meter walking time, Functional Independence Measure, and Falls Efficacy Scale-International were used to assess construct validity. For test-retest reliability, the same assessor evaluated the LSA-IS-J within two days. Correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the construct validity. ResultsThe mean LSA-IS-J total score mean was 37.7 (standard deviation: 7.4), with skewness of -0.17 and kurtosis of -1.39. No ceiling or floor effects are observed. The test-retest reliability was excellent for the total and subtests, with intraclass correlations ranging from 0.78 to 0.99. The LSA-IS-J showed significant correlations with almost all variables related to motor status and concerns about falling, indicating high construct validity. In contrast, more generic variables were not significantly associated. ConclusionsThe LSA-IS-J demonstrated broad feasibility for assessing LS without ceiling or floor effects among patients undergoing ward-based rehabilitation. The LSA-IS-J also demonstrated excellent test-retest reliability and adequate construct validity for constructs with a high impact on LS.

A qualitative inquiry into the lived experiences of menstrual health and hygiene in the transgender and non-binary people in urban areas of India

Significance Most global research on menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) focuses on cisgender women and girls, with limited evidence on the experiences of transgender and non-binary (TNB) people. This study aimed to document the lived experiences of menstruation management among TNB people in urban India. Methods We conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with TNB adults aged 19–40 years in three major Indian cities in collaboration with community organizations. We asked participants to share their experiences of managing menstruation in multiple spaces of life, e.g. at home, school, workplace, and other public spaces. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, de-identified, and cleaned. After a deductive and inductive process of developing a code book, we coded transcripts and developed code summaries to identify emergent themes. Results We identified three major themes in MHH for TNB urban Indians: (i) gendering of menstruation, (ii) navigating physical aspects of menstruation, and (iii) challenges beyond bleeding. ‘Gendering of menstruation’ shaped overall experiences of MHH among participants. Gendered expectations upon menarche triggered gender dysphoria. Participants reported having little knowledge about menstruation prior to menarche, which led to a state of confusion and shame, and exacerbated their dysphoria from gendering of norms around menstruation. ‘Navigating physical aspects of menstruation’ was less challenging in familiar, private surroundings, however, accessing public spaces and bathrooms remained a major challenge and stressor. Though many participants reported undergoing hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) in part to suppress menstruation, they continued experiencing menstrual symptoms which triggered continued dysphoria. Participants reported facing ‘challenges beyond bleeding’ which included burden of multiple diseases, mis-gendered healthcare services, and lack of social support. Discussion Documenting the lived experiences of menstrual health and hygiene among TNB people supports the call to ‘de-gender’ menstruation. Magnifying the voices and lived experienced of TNB people can bolster the development of effective interventions to enhance their wellbeing.

Looking for places to be alone: Lived space in social anxiety disorder

In this paper, I elucidate how lived space is transformed in social anxiety disorder. The cognitive–behavioral framework that dominates the field conceptualizes the disorder as an intrapsychic dysfunction and sidelines concrete experience. The omnipresent sense of threat as it expresses itself “out there” in the patient’s experiential world thus remains unexplored. Looking to first-person descriptions of social anxiety, I argue that the felt presence of the Other constantly threatens the patient’s sense of autonomy and ownership of the places they inhabit. They experience others violating the boundaries of their intimate spaces and banishing them from public spaces. These experiences point to an altered mode of inhabiting space I term intersubjective overdetermination. The patient is condemned to live in the space of the Other. I compare this conceptualization to the commonplace cognitive–behavioral account. I end by discussing the treatment implications of this account of socially anxious lived space.

From Pastoral Vistas to Urban Realities: Exploring the Transformative Journey through the Primordial Village of Aathi in Sara Joseph’s Gift in Green and Pallikaranai

Space in its purest form is a pristine canvas, a blank slate awaiting the brushstrokes of life. Space is a profound repository, a vessel into which the essence of actions, movements, emotions, and sensations can be infused. It invites the human experience to inscribe its tales, thereby creating a complex tapestry of moments, memories, and significance. Space's vastness invites exploration and self-expression; it is a stage awaiting the magnificent performance of existence. Nevertheless, space is not a single entity. It is similar to a chameleon in that its meaning varies depending on the observer. What a particular location signifies to one person may be vastly different from what it means to another. This paper intends to characterize the transformational journey of cityscapes, tracing their emergence from rural or pastoral settings and elucidating their profound impact on the physical and mental health of their denizens. This article seeks to utilize Henri Lefebvre's seminal concept of representational space, or lived space, as a potent analytical tool for a comprehensive investigation of Sarah Joseph's literary work Aathi translated into English by Valson Thampu as Gift in Green. Furthermore, this study engages in a comparative analysis, drawing parallels between Sara Joseph's evocative depiction of the asphyxiated fictional realm of Aathi and the tangible urban reality of Pallikaranai in Chennai, thus casting light on the intricate interplay between fiction and reality.

Lived Experiences in the Life World of Korean Emerging Adults with Foster Care Backgrounds: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

The purpose of this study was to synthesize and interpret the findings of previous qualitative studies that investigated the lived experiences of Korean emerging adults who aged out of the foster care system. Based on our selection criteria, we extracted and analyzed 14 papers that were published between 2010 to 2023. Our meta-synthesis found that the emerging adults’ life world consisted of seven domains: family experience, life tasks, education and work, financial issues, home and family, interpersonal relationships, and psychological and emotional issues. We restructured the emerging adults’ lived experiences using van Manen’s concepts of lived time, lived space, lived things, lived self-other, and lived body. Our meta-synthesis revealed that these emerging adults experienced multidimensional difficulties due to shortcomings of formal and informal social support after aging out of the foster care system. Their difficulties accumulated in their interaction with lived time. Based on the level of their accumulated difficulties, we categorized the emerging adults into stable, struggling, and isolated groups. However, it is important to note that many of them adapted to their own life world and strived to move forward. This qualitative meta-synthesis provides a comprehensive understanding and new interpretation of emerging adults who transition from foster care to independent living in the context of Korea.

Associations between walking limitations and reported activity destinations among older adults.

In old age, walking difficulty may reduce opportunities to reach valued activity destinations. Walking modifications, e.g., slower pace or using a walking aid, may enable individuals to continue going where they wish, and hence postpone the consequences of the onset of walking difficulties. We studied visited activity destinations (type, distance) among older people with varying degrees of walking limitations. Community-dwelling 75-85-year-old people living in Jyväskylä (N = 901) were asked to state whether they had no difficulty walking 2km, had modified their walking, or had difficulty walking. On a digital map, participants located physical exercise, attractive, and regular destinations they had visited during the past month. Destination counts and median distance to destinations from home were computed. Participants with intact walking reported higher counts of physical exercise (IRR = 1.45, 95% CI [1.31, 1.61]) and attractive destinations (IRR = 1.23, 95% CI [1.10, 1.40]) than those with walking difficulty and also visited these destinations further away from home than the others (b = 0.46, 95% CI [0.20, 0.71]). Those with walking modifications reported higher counts of physical exercise destinations than those with walking difficulty (IRR = 1.23, 95% CI [1.09, 1.40]). Counts of regular destinations and distance traveled were not associated with walking limitations. Walking modifications may help people with walking difficulty reach destinations further away from home, potentially contributing to their sense of autonomy. For those with walking difficulty, a low count of destinations other than regular destinations, e.g., shops or healthcare facilities, may signal their abandonment of recreational activities and a decrease in their life space, potentially leading to reduced well-being.

Dealing With Territorial Boundaries, Space, and Time in Robinson Crusoe and Life of Pi Novels (Postcolonial Perspective)

Today's globalization eliminates time, space, distance, and national barriers. The two novels examined in this study implied those issues. The objective of this study is to analyze the territorial boundaries, spatial dimensions, and temporal aspects that evoke a profound impact in Robinson Crusoe and Life of Pi, employing a postcolonial perspective. Both of these works originated from a shared concept, specifically the theme of being stranded as a result of a shipwreck. However, these novels were written throughout distinct times spanning several centuries. Robinson Crusoe was published in the 18th century, whilst Life of Pi was published during the 21st century. The similar concept of "Castaway" does not imply the creation of an identical narrative. The level of precision in the portrayal of territorial boundaries, space, and time in these two works is noteworthy, but they exhibit certain distinctions. The narrative of Robinson Crusoe prominently features people embodying the roles of master and slave, hence highlighting the concept of social boundaries. Contrarily, Life of Pi explores the ambiguous nature of borders about territory, space, and time, as they are consistently subject to dispute. Consequently, the delineation of power dynamics between characters is likewise a matter of contestation. In conclusion, these two novels convey two different ideologies by territory, space, and time considered through the lens of post-colonialism. The span of centuries demonstrates the diversity of human interpretations of them. Robinson Crusoe conveys the idea that colonialism is inevitable. Meanwhile, Life of Pi interprets colonialism as cruelty.

Tracing the Feminist Maternal in a European Context: A Review

“What might motherhood and Europe have to do with one another?” is a question posed by Lisa Baraitser in the Foreword to the collection, Motherhood in Literature and Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Europe. The question is certainly pertinent at a time when the very concept of Europe as a geopolitical space and an imaginary construct is being interrogated and critiqued from both within and without the carefully policed borders of the European Union project. It is also pertinent given the increased amount of scholarship on the maternal produced by scholars occupying various transnational locations and positionalities, working to deconstruct unitary and essentialist ideas about mothers and motherhood. The possibility of identifying a specifically European maternal theoretical and lived space thus invites us to carefully theorize the diversity of European contexts, a diversity that is often occluded or elided by easy references to Eurocentric bias in feminist research, as well as the dis/continuities between European-based and Anglo-American feminist scholarship on the maternal. And yet, precisely because the work of mothering always unfolds within specific micro and macro geographic, social, cultural, and ideological spaces, the question merits closer attention. In this essay I consider the cluster of three books delineating the contours of an Italian, as well as a more broadly conceptualized European, philosophy of the maternal in light of these evolving academic and experiential realities.

Dikopelo ritual and performance: The embodiment of place

Batswana (People of Botswana) traditionally celebrate the end of seasons with dikopelo musical performances. This paper discusses Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela’s dikopelo festive celebrations, an annual return of choirs to their performance grounds through the duality of home and away. The author, a performer, interrogates through participant observation in four performances from December 2015 to January 2019, the seventeen-hour performance from midnight until the following day at sunset. Her experience is conceptually framed on Van Manen’s four lifeworld existentials of lived space (grounds), lived body (performs), lived time (seventeen hours) and lived human relations (performers, family, supporters). In conclusion, she takes a reflexive position of the subjectivity of her experience in relation to her fellow performers’; the blurred boundaries of her academic/performer roles and fieldwork/post-fieldwork spaces as her dikopelo lived experience is beyond this study’s timeframe. Her reality as an ethnographer at home, is the constant negotiation of her multiple unending identities.

Life space assessment and falls in older adults with multiple sclerosis

Background/objectiveFalls research in older adults with MS (OAMS) is scarce, and no studies have reported on the association between life-space mobility and falls in this group. Herein, we hypothesized that higher baseline life-space scores would be associated with reduced odds of reporting falls during follow-up, and explored whether the association differed by MS subtype (progressive vs. relapsing-remitting). MethodsOAMS (n = 91, mean age = 64.7 ± 4.3ys, %female = 66.9,%progressive MS = 30.7) completed the University of Alabama at Birmingham Life-Space-Assessment (UAB-LSA) scale and reported falls during a structured monthly telephone interview during follow-up (mean = 16.39 ± 11.44 months). General Estimated Equations (GEE) models were utilized to determine whether UAB-LSA scores predicted falls during follow-up. ResultsGEE models revealed that higher UAB-LSA scores were associated with a significant reduction in the odds of falling during follow-up (OR = 0.69, p = 0.012, 95 %CI = 0.51 to 0.92). Stratified analyses revealed that this association was significant in progressive (OR = 0.57, p = 0.004, 95 %CI = 0.39 to 0.84), but not relapsing-remitting (OR = 0.93, p = 0.779, 95 %CI = 0.57 to 1.53) MS. ConclusionHigher life-space mobility was associated with lower odds of falling among OAMS with progressive subtype. The UAB-LSA may complement existing mobility measures for predicting fall risk.

Social participation in the neighborhood community prevents onset of disability in community-dwelling older adults whose life space with activities is limited: A 2-year prospective cohort study.

For older adults with limited life space and activity, social participation in the neighborhood community is essential to ensure social interaction and activity levels. This study examined the association between social participation in the neighborhood community and the onset of disability in older adults with different life spaces and activities. The participants were 9513 older adults from a cohort study conducted at the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Study of Geriatric Syndromes (NCGG-SGS). Social participation in the neighborhood community was assessed by participating in the community meetings. Life space with activities was evaluated using the Activity Mobility Index (AMI) developed in the NCGG-SGS, with higher scores indicating better mobility and movement. The participants were divided into four groups based on the quartiles of their AMI scores (Q1-Q4). Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for disability incidence by social participation in each quartile. Over the 2-year follow-up period, disability occurred in 4.3% of the participants (n = 409). In the Q1 group, participants who participated in the neighborhood community had a significantly lower risk of developing a disability than those who did not (HR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.28-0.76). There were no significant differences in onset of disability between the presence and absence of social participation for groups Q2, Q3, and Q4. Social participation in the neighborhood community was associated with the onset of disability in the lowest life space group. Social participation within a limited life space with activities may prevent disability onset. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 609-618.