Seniors moving to suburbs, study suggests

Canadians over the age of 65 are increasingly moving to the suburbs and that could affect their access to services, says Prof. Zachary Patterson, of the department of geography, planning and environment at Concordia University. He and other researchers studied statistics provided in four of the government’s census reports up until 2006.

Canada has a large proportion of the population that was born after World War II. Members of this cohort began reaching the age of 65 in 2011. As they become seniors, the assumption has been that they would move to urban centres. That turns out to not be true.

In fact after studying data from Canada’s largest cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, researchers found the rate at which seniors are moving to the suburbs seems to be increasing faster than for all other age groups.

ListenAccessing services in suburbs often requires a vehicle

“What it means,” says Patterson, “is that as seniors become more and more suburban, the likelihood of them finding themselves in situations of reduced mobility (such as) when they lose access to automobiles, will also reduce their ability to access services that they need. That means medical services, but also shopping. They’ll suffer from lower accessibility.”

Patterson says urban planners should consider that it would be easier to entice seniors back to urban centres where services already exist, rather than to try to provide services for them in the suburbs. He adds, the study could also be useful for those planning transportation systems in the future.