Neighborhood Social and Physical Conditions Shape Older Adults’ Everyday Safety

• In Event: Contextual Influences on Well-Being Across the Life Course

Abstract

Background: Momentary feelings of safety carry significant implications for well-being in later life. Yet the role of social and built environments beyond residential neighborhoods remains underexplored. We investigate how dynamic social, physical features and spatial familiarity of activity spaces affect older adults’ in-situ feelings of safety.

Methods: We draw on data from the Chicago Health and Aging in Real-Time (CHART) study, analyzing 5,964 geolocated ecological momentary assessments (EMA) from 93 older adults with multilevel models. Using the Mundlak approach, we decompose the total effect into within- and between-person effects. We derive streetscape features (physical conditions) from Google Street View Images (SVI), sociodemographic characteristics (social) from American Community Survey, and spatial knowledge from Advan’s mobility flows.

Results: Momentary safety varies substantially across contexts, with distinct racial patterns. Being outdoors reduces safety for both White and Black respondents. White respondents reported lower safety in predominantly Black and low-SES areas but greater safety in racially mixed, higher-SES neighborhoods. In contrast, Black respondents felt less safe in racially mixed and affluent White neighborhoods, reflecting differing experiences of being “out of place.” Physical disorder and built-environment cues predicted safety only among Whites, indicating that the meaning of disorder is socially conditioned rather than universal. Across both groups, spatial familiarity consistently increased perceived safety, suggesting that routine mobility and local knowledge mitigate situational threat perceptions.

Conclusions: Our findings underscore the situational and racialized nature of safety in later life. While White older adults’ safety perceptions respond to visible streetscape cues, Black older adults’ perceptions reflect broader structural and contextual neighborhood characteristics. Our findings contribute to the ongoing reassessment of the broken windows perspective. Age-friendly urban planning should consider the diverse social and physical environment older adults traverse in daily life in addition to residential neighborhoods.

Authors

• Liang Cai, University of Chicago

• Christopher R Browning, Ohio State University

• Kathleen A. Cagney, University of Chicago