This volume is based on the conference “Aging in the Community: Living Arrangements and Mobility,” organized by the German Centre for Research on Aging at the University of Heidelberg in cooperation with Pennsylvania State University. It explores the similarities and differences of living arrangements and outdoor mobility in both cultures and the impact on older persons’ roles in community life and sustainable community development. Considering the future of aging theoretically from an environmental gerontology perspective and practically in terms of available technology, the central tenet of this volume is that future “indoor” and “outdoor” environments will become much more intertwined than is the case today. Merging the concerns of living arrangements and mobility, this volume leads us to a new understanding of distance and nearness even in the presence, for example, of severe chronic illness.

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