The study purposes are to: (1) complete an ethnographic record of the effects of urban change on elderly hotel residents, and prepare a five-year case history summary for the San Diego renewal district under study; (2) continue participant observation in the downtown area and subject hotels through periods of intense physical change and renewal; (3) use ecological techniques to analyze the "key" behavior settings and environmental dimensions of downtown hotels; (4) analyze the change and replacements made for informal social supports once provided individuals in specific neighborhood settings; (5) elucidate the life histories and trajectories of aged subjects living in cheap hotels; (6) make recommendations concerning the social, mental, and physical health needs of these people to government officials, city planners, and concerned agencies. A multi-methodological approach will be used bearing on concepts relevant to several different disciplines--most notably, anthropology, environmental psychology, gerontology, and social ecology of complex settings. Methodological techniques include: participant observation, task oriented and structured observation of "key" behavior setting, survey interviews with a random sample of hotel residents, and case history interviews of selected individuals. The research is focused on marginally subsistent individuals residing in deteriorated urban core areas and the informal and formal social arrangements important for maintenance of self-reliant and independent living. Planned urban renewal is changing the environment important to these individuals.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter