The elderly and urban accessibility before and during the Covid-19 lockdown: a comparative analysis of Mediterranean cities with a focus on Naples and Milan.

This contribution aims to assess accessibility to public transport services for the elderly. We propose a method to evaluate the service area on foot around public transport stops, based on the mobility of the elderly, considering both the more detailed sub-district urban level. The first section of this contribution deals with the significant demographic changes in Mediterranean countries and their consequences. The second section proposes a review of the literature on urban accessibility to support planning processes in order to deal with demographic changes in urban areas. The third section analyses demographic and public transport characteristics in twenty-one northern Mediterranean cities. Section 4 proposes a Gis-based spatial analysis method to support local administrators in identifying critical areas where there are evident disparities in accessibility for the elderly. In the last section, for the experimentation of the method, two case studies were selected, Naples and Milan, which differ greatly in their urban and population structures and transport services. In addition, there is a focus at both city and neighbourhood level on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic for urban accessibility assessments. This work is part of the research project «Mobilage. Mobility and ageing: daily life and welfare supportive networks at the neighbourhood level», funded by the Fondazione Cariplo and involving the University of Naples, the University of Groningen and the Polytechnic University of Milan. The aim of the project is to develop strategies and decision-making tools to improve the quality of life of the elderly in urban environments and their accessibility to essential services.