Slides fromr a brief presentation at Macquarie University on the theme of disruptive geographies.

1. Geography as Exploratory Science:
Applications in a Rapidly Ageing World
Presenter
Hamish Robertson, PhD

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Population ageing and the growth of knowledge
• Ageing – from demography to societal complexity
• Geography and the data problem
• Advancing spatial literacy in the 21st century
• Disrupting the norm via population ageing and the big data transition
• Conclusion

3. Introduction
• PhD on the geography of Alzheimer's disease in a medical faculty – topic
defined as “Other” in their theses listing…
• Population-level ageing is the demographic transformation of the 21st
century and well-advanced in many countries
• Complications exist for responses in less affluent countries and ideological
problems in the more affluent ones (e.g. continuing privatisation)
• Challenges of ageing require an understanding of space, place, scale,
temporality and their interactional nature(s)
• As I have said elsewhere, the consequences of an inadequate response are
potentially catastrophic (see patient safety field for examples)

4. Population ageing and the growth of knowledge
• Deep social history to ageing as individual and collective experience, one
far from complete or fully explained – workhouse infirmaries
• Knowledge base is highly developmental across multiple intellectual and
academic domains (arts, sciences, economics, policy etc.)
• Various issues and areas about which our knowledge base is very
constrained – uneven development processes
• Cultural and ideological tropes exist around ageing that make it a complex
phenomenon – e.g. ‘ageing tsunami’ and related disaster metaphors
• Yet ageing is not a disaster and surely beats dying of infectious disease in
childhood or systemic diseases in middle age
• What is actually required is a science of ageing that goes beyond our
current limits to knowledge – what is age/ageing? How will it progress into
the future? How best do our societies respond? What humane options
exit? How to avoid perverse effects etc. etc.

5. Ageing – from demography to societal complexity
• Population aging starts as a demographic problem but demography is a deeply
political science and this is frequently unrecognised/ignored in the health
sciences (disingenuously apolitical nature of healthcare) – ‘population’ is not a
neutral entity
• Population ageing arises as a consequence of relatively ‘simple’ factors with
complex trajectories, including rising LE, falling fertility, improved healthcare,
socio-economic conditions etc.
• In other words, a general pattern characterised by a wide variety of different
trajectories over time e.g. Sweden versus Iran, Indian regional variations
(nations within nations) etc.
• In addition, transitional nature of population ageing produces a range of
effects -> ageing to aged (process to state) and how this is adapted to at a
societal level
• Current ideology of old age in neoliberal regimes does not bode well – back to
the Poor House or a 21st century version (Eubanks and the digital workhouse)?

6. Geography and the data problem
• Much of what we know about population ageing is limited by two factors:
(1) generalised aggregate rates applied across the board and (2) very
limited information about localised variations and sub-group experiences
• In more developmental scenarios often very little reliable data at all,
census regularity or adequacy, safety issues, cultural prejudices about the
‘aged’ (e.g. various African and European countries), perceptions of age-
related illness as personal moral failure or mental illness
• Ageism is pretty much universal or close too (e.g. Japan and elder abuse –
cultural tropes mostly useless or simply racist “they look after their…”)
• Epidemiological and public health knowledge and practice often focus on
known/established ‘problems’ e.g. child and maternal health, at expense of
ageing and older people
• I propose, therefore, geography as a key discipline for informing data-poor
scenarios and scale-limited information, as well as addressing the many
complexities to which population ageing will give rise

7. Dementia Perspective: Building Knowledge with Geography

8. People Aged 75+ and Need for Assistance with Service

9. Advancing spatial literacy in the 21st century
• Space-place concepts poorly understood and applied in much of ageing theory and
practice -> “ageing in place” is a classic example, almost completely atheoretical in
definition and applications (usually proxies for ‘location’ as a completely
decontextualized phenomenon – don’t read Goodchild)
• Scale as a conceptual, methodological and experimental device leaves most health
sciences/services researchers confused – poor history of ‘scaling up’ and long history of
short-term projects that ultimately fail due to lack of support, politics etc.
• GIS and related tools are varyingly understood and applied but for the most part simply
not used at all – health informatics and GIS convergence is beginning to emerge, which
may change this (e.g. US HIMSS)
• Many health/medical/epidemiological researchers work as though geography is not
relevant to health patterns, problems and consequences (aspatial)
• A spatial literacy issue that is ongoing – other side of the coin is they buy some software
and think they’re experts (classic techno-fix – don’t read Harvey!)

10. Disrupting the norm
• The small data paradigm is in decline and skilling up for the ‘big data’
paradigm needs to gain momentum – time to enter this equation
• Some spatial elements are readily supported by data visualisation
exponents and their software (e.g. Tableau, Qlik, Power BI)
• This scenario will only continue to grow because big data has no intrinsic
problem with location, distance, scale or related complexities (analysis
another issue but change immanent)
• Small data was the norm for a century or so and geography has been in the
forefront of critiquing that paradigm - 1970’s reaction to the quantitative
revolution
• We are in a moment of impending disruption – big data transition will
potentially deliver another ‘moment’ for (human) geography

11. Conclusion
• Population ageing represents an opportunity for geography as a discipline that
accommodates multiple perspectives and data strategies
• Global patterns vary widely underneath a general pattern of change, data is an
issue – quantity, quality, analysis, access etc.
• Epistemological confusion can be observed in business and academia as we
transition to big data
• Range of issues for which we lack solid answers is growing, this is not a problem
in itself but an area/moment of opportunity
• Geography is the (IMO) experimental social science of the 21st century – every
significant emerging change has a spatial/geographical dimension (data systems,
analysis, visualisation, systemic complexity, interventional responses etc.)
• Geographers have the knowledge and skills to develop answers to scenarios in
which data is limited and knowledge remains poor – speculative ideas, methods
and tools