La marchabilité des environnements urbains pour les aînés : analyse de l’expérience sensible
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Ce mémoire explore comment l’expérience sensible influence la marchabilité perçue des environnements urbains pour les aînés et façonne leurs habitudes de marche. La marche, activité essentielle au vieillissement actif, est souvent étudiée sous l’angle de la marchabilité objective (infrastructures, connectivité, sécurité). Or, cette perspective néglige la dimension subjective de la marche, tel qu’elle est vécue à travers les sens. Ce mémoire repose sur 37 parcours commentés réalisés avec des aînés dans quatre villes québécoises (Laval, Québec, Longueuil, Saguenay). L’analyse thématique effectuée s’est concentrée sur les expériences sensorielles (vue, ouïe, odorat, toucher) et sur leur influence sur le moment, le lieu et la manière de marcher. Les résultats montrent que la végétation agit comme un catalyseur sensoriel, éveillant simultanément la vue, l’ouïe et l’odorat et procurant un sentiment d’apaisement qui incite à marcher. L’esthétique visuelle des lieux (propreté, entretien, cohérence architecturale et présence de couleurs) influence fortement le plaisir de marcher et le sentiment de sécurité. L’effet combiné des sens révèle que la marchabilité perçue émerge d’un équilibre sensoriel : les stimulations agréables se renforcent mutuellement, alors que les dissonances (bruit, odeur, désordre visuel) altèrent l’expérience négativement. Enfin, le bien-être sensoriel, né d’un environnement calme, lisible et stimulant, favorise une marche associée à la détente et à la contemplation. En conclusion, cette recherche contribue à élargir la compréhension de la marchabilité en démontrant que l’expérience sensible est un déterminant central de la mobilité piétonne des aînés. Elle ouvre des pistes pour l’aménagement d’environnements urbains inclusifs et favorables au vieillissement actif. This thesis explores how sensory experience influences the perceived walkability of urban environments for older adults and shapes their walking habits. Walking, a key activity for active aging, is often examined through the lens of objective walkability (infrastructure, connectivity, safety). However, this perspective overlooks the subjective dimension of walking, as it is lived and felt through the senses. The research is based on 37 walk-along interviews conducted with older adults in four Québec cities (Laval, Québec City, Longueuil, Saguenay). Thematic analysis focused on sensory experiences (sight, hearing, smell, touch) and their influence on when, where, and how participants choose to walk. Findings show that vegetation acts as a sensory catalyst, simultaneously engaging sight, hearing, and smell, and creating a sense of calm that encourages walking. The visual aesthetics of places—cleanliness, maintenance, architectural coherence, and color—strongly influence both the pleasure of walking and the feeling of safety. The combined effect of the senses reveals that perceived walkability emerges from a sensory balance: pleasant stimuli reinforce one another, while dissonances (noise, odors, visual disorder) detract from the walking experience. Finally, sensory well-being, fostered by calm, legible, and moderately stimulating environments, supports walking associated with relaxation and contemplation. In conclusion, this research broadens the understanding of walkability by demonstrating that sensory experience is a central determinant of older adults’ pedestrian mobility. It opens new avenues for designing inclusive urban environments that promote active and healthy aging.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.005 | 0.005 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".