Furthermore, the (future) migration behaviour at old age is of high interest, because information
on willingness to age in place and the amount of the (future) demanders is necessary to
consider solutions for provision of infrastructure and alternative supply-side structures of goods
and services at the municipal level.
Research within the field of spatial planning must not end with analysis of the findings, but has
to provide solutions for political decision makers at different spatial levels. Related to this claim,
recommendations found in literature often focus on an abstract level (see Born, Goltz and
Saupe 2004).
Walsh et al. (2012) point out that “due to the small-scale nature of the research, and the diverse
contextual factors of place and the heterogeneity of the rural older population, it is not possible
to generalise our findings to other rural settings” (p. 9).
In an international context, findings from Austrian researchers on intermediate spatial research
on rural aging and rural aging in transition – comprising sociological, gerontological and spatial
aspects – are rare, because among other things in Austria spatial research on rural aging has
no long-standing tradition (Fischer 2005).
2. Approaching the topic of “rural aging” and discovering key issues
Much research on “aging in rural areas” in its widest sense has already been conducted. Burholt
and Dobbs (2012) provide comprising and revealing of the state of play of research on rural
aging in Europe at the interface of space, gerontology and sociology. During the last decade,
alongside theoretical works numerous empirically-based case-studies at different spatial scales
and sample sizes deal among other issues with the quantitative dimensions of demographic
changes (shifts within the population structure) on the one hand, and impacts of these changes
on health issues, access to services, social relationships and participation on the other hand.
Furthermore, urban-rural-migration of senior citizens and loyalty to rural location of autochthon
older population and older in-migrants, as well as on technological aspects in order to maintain
quality of life of an aging rural population are of interest of various studies.
In this paper the author presents preliminary results of her current research project on rural
primary dwellers aged 55 to 65 years in six selected structurally weak rural municipalities in
Austria dealing with the question on how the older rural population has changed over time
regarding their spatially-related traits and attitudes due to the individualisation of occupational
and migration biographies and availabilities of resources like money, time, health state, and
social networks.
2012 was the European Year of Active Aging and Solidarity of Generations. Thus, it is a good
hook to start thinking about, whether and how changes of the rural older population cause
impacts on municipal spatial planning and adequate solutions for an assumed increasing
heterogeneous population group. These challenges are being operationalized and made visible
by the consequences of individualized demander profiles relating to the supply of goods and