Limited Space: Elderly People's Meanings of the City in the Time of Pandemic
The study examines the specifics of changes in the meanings of the city in interviews with older people. The author shows what restrictions in the use of material and social resources exist in urban spaces, how these restrictions are interrelated and how they create peculiarities in the interpretation of the meanings of cities by older people. The empirical basis of the study was 20 semi-structured interviews and 15 observation diaries with elderly people from St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk, which were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic from April 14 to June 1, 2020. The key findings of the study relate to the different interpretations of urban spaces present in the locations where the study was conducted; secondly, how the limited material resources of the city and the perceived tightness of older people within one space affect social resources. In addition, the question is raised as to how the lack of material resources can be compensated through social resources, such as volunteer assistance. The presence of volunteers is limited in various cities, and restrictions on the provision of volunteer assistance are a serious problem for a large city of regional significance - Petrozavodsk.