Aging geographies: epistemology and ontology of gerontospace

Abstract

This article develops the epistemological and ontological foundations of the geographies of aging by positioning gerontospace as a central analytical category through which aging is spatially produced and experienced. Gerontospace emerges from the intimate relationship between the aging body and its environments, revealing how older adults negotiate power, discrimination, and affective attachments across multiple spatial scales. The article argues that the aging body functions as the primary spatial scale through which old age is semiotized, allowing identities, emotions, and life-course trajectories to shape spatial practices. Through this lens, gerontospace illuminates the agency of older adults as they navigate ageist and cisheteropatriarchal structures while also generating forms of resistance, belonging, and creativity. This framework clarifies how the interscalar nature of gerontospace – linking the body, place, landscape, and territory – reveals the relational dynamics of neighborhoods and the opportunities or constraints older adults encounter as they circulate, inhabit, and appropriate urban space.