Mobility, Accessibility, and Rhythms of Everyday Life in Towns and Neighbourhoods (MARLENE)
MARLENE combines conceptual and methodological tools from mobilities and accessibility studies, time geography, and chronotropic urbanism to investigate X-Minute City (XmC) concepts and explore their practical applicability in small and medium sized towns and their neighbourhoods. Adopting a co-creation approach across selected cases in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Sweden and focusing on the accessibility and (im)mobilities of the heterogeneous group of older adults, MARLENE contributes to advancing the state of the art on the XmC by fostering inclusive and sustainable approaches in proximity-oriented and age-friendly planning. The goals of the project are three-fold: (i) deepening the knowledge of everyday mobility and accessibility strategies, needs, resources and constraints experienced within the specific spatiotemporal contexts of small and medium towns – with primary focus on the lived experience of older adults; (ii) co-developing, together with stakeholders and drawing upon a “co-design for all” approach, possible future accessibility and proximity scenarios, including conceptual and practical challenges and possible solutions; (iii) co-creating, together with stakeholders, an “Inclusive XmC” toolkit containing planning recommendations for inclusive XmC developments. MARLENE will inform the development of integrated spatial, temporal, and mobility planning policies addressing accessibility in smaller urban centres, based on the specific needs and rhythms of their populations.