Altersgruppen in städtischen Teilräumen : theoretische Grundlagen, empirische Untersuchungen und verwaltungspraktische Anwendungen am Beispiel der Kleinstadt Drolshagen

Age groups play a central role in the discussion about “demographic change” without the criteria or constituent parameters for the definition of age groups being clarified. Moreover, the interactions triggered by different relationships within and between age groups and the spatial scale levels at which these are relevant still remain unclear. Fundamentally speaking, demographic dynamics and their evaluations are interrelated; as such, they are socially communicated processes of the highest order.

Research explores the different “interpretations” of age and depicts the relevance of the attribute of age in multidimensional models of social inequality. This illustrates that age as an attribute of social inequality is by no means apodictically defined, but rather en-compasses multiple dimensions. Depending on the prevalent social constitution, age develops different properties as an attribute of social inequality, with the result that in the historical sequence of these conditions the respective age breeds different life realities. However, the models of social inequality also treat age as an attribute of social inequality in differing ways. As it is not possible to clarify which attributes are responsible for social inequality, it is not possible to answer definitively the question of the relevance of social inequality based on age. Age is integrated in models of social inequality in a variety of different ways, which is why the influence of age on social inequality needs to be implied individually by the respective analyst.

The case employs an action space analysis and guideline-supported interviews to determine whether different sociospatial behaviours are evident in different age groups, how homogeneous the sociospatial behaviour of an age group is taking additional attributes into consideration and how strong the influence of age is on sociospatial behaviour compared with other attributes. It also investigates whether extrafamilial social contacts are primarily maintained in one’s own age group and whether the concentration of indi-viduals of the same age group in the study area influences this behaviour. Finally, it examines whether the comparatively high concentration of elderly people in urban sub-spaces results in a symbolic alteration of these subspaces.

The analysis of age groups falls under the practical administrative duties of small towns, although there is rarely extensive expertise available for the task. The small town of Drolshagen in Germany is taken as an example for illustrating the options available for the practical application of age group analyses. If age structure analyses are restricted to the use of the attribute “age group” when doing so, their informative value remains low. However, analyses which take into consideration multiple attributes, in which, for example, individuals from different age groups are differentiated horizontally, can only be performed to a limited extent by the administrative bodies of small towns using their own administrative data, particularly as attributes concerning the vertical scaling of the population are either not available or it is not possible to use them.