Participating at the Mall: Possibilities and Tensions that Shape Older Adults' Occupations

Abstract

This article presents an instrumental case study of Carolina Mall, a shopping center in North Carolina that served as a popular destination for older adults. Multiple methods, including naturalistic observation, interviews, and document study, were used to examine the processes and patterns of engagement in the older adults' preferred out-and-about occupations. Two key tensions emerged. First, the features of the space that older adults found most appealing were often features that were not desirable to the management (for example, lack of foot traffic). Second, the mall's overt retail purpose was not reflected in the actual patterns of use by older adults. These tensions, both complicated by the mall's redevelopment and rebranding efforts, reveal the complex processes and socio-political dimensions of engaging in a mall environment. We theorize that these tensions help to articulate the common experience of engaging in non-consumer occupations despite the consumeristic landscape of public spaces. This study also contributes to the emerging literature on occupational possibilities, since the management's rebranding efforts were a mechanism that shaped the places available for older adults to go, as well as their possibilities for engagement once they were there.

Keywords:

• Aging in place
• Community
• Consumer occupations
• Occupational engagement
• Shopping
• Out-and-about activity

Acknowledgement

At the time this research was completed, both authors were affiliated with the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.