In this context, we define wearable devices as those that can be “worn or mated with human skin to continuously and closely monitor an individual’s activities, without interrupting or limiting the user’s motions’’ (Haghi et al., 2017). However, to maximize uptake of these devices, more research needs to take place to better understand the emotional goals of older adults when using this technology within their urban environment. By doing so, uptake and acceptance of wearable devices by older adults may increase, leading to enhanced wellbeing, and potential insights into framework development for the design of healthy ageing smart cities. To complement findings from the published literature, which are based on large numbers of conducted surveys and often not a lot of detailed and individual information, our present recommendations are based on an in-depth analysis of semi-structured interviews with older citizens. As a data analysis mechanism, we applied three thematic frames to analyse transcripts focussing on emotional, quality and functional goals to account for the rich individual needs of older adults for walking in the smart city.
Emotions of older adults when using a wearable for health reasons Emotions are a key factor in taking up technologies or not (Miller et al., 2015; Pedell et al., 2014). Hence if wearables shall support older adults in their ambition to walk in order to increase their health then technology developers as well as city planners need to understand these influencing emotions. A strong theme amongst the different older adults using wearables was that they want to feel motivated. This would support them to achieve better goals in being more active and increase step counts. “I think it's the motivation. I think it created this thing for me it was the motivation to make sure that pedometer showed a lot of steps at the end of the day”. Once a certain hurdle was taken there was an aim to feel confident with the ambition to increase the range of functions for wearable use managing their activities and health: “Definitely not feeling confident. I simply used it to measure my steps and my sleep. That's all I'm doing”. This points to different levels of confidence, and equally to technology experience. Such feelings go in conjunction with wanting to feel being up to date on modern technology use. “I would recommend it to mature aged people like myself. I think you know it makes you feel to sort of up with a bit of modern technology”. This means there is a desire to make use of the devices that other people are using or recommending for exercise and health. Older adults do not want devices that are simply
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