Aging Observatory's work is built on ethnographic research designed to observe aging as it is lived, not through surveys or aggregate data, but through close, sustained attention to how people navigate their days, adapt their environments, and make meaning as they grow older.

The Observatory pays attention to what people say and do, but also to what surrounds those actions: the atmosphere of a room, the sounds that mark daily rhythms, the spatial relationships that enable or constrain movement, the small adaptations that accumulate over time. This kind of observation reveals patterns that are difficult to capture in words alone—the embodied knowledge of how people actually live.

Approach

Our methodology is grounded in principles drawn from Nonviolent Communication. This shapes how we listen, interpret, and engage with participants. We prioritize active listening and non-judgment, creating conditions where insights emerge through dialogue and trust rather than extraction.

The analytical framework we've developed—NEEM—links observed behaviors to the underlying needs and emotions that shape people's choices over time. It combines empathetic inquiry with systematic analysis, helping us understand not just what people do, but why those actions matter to them.

How we observe

Because human behavior is experienced through multiple senses, we work with more than interview transcripts. We use sketches, photographs, annotated spaces, maps, and visual narratives alongside audio recordings and field notes.

These materials surface routines, atmospheres, and spatial relationships that participants may struggle to articulate, but that shape how they live and adapt. They are treated as evidence, not illustration.

Full list of themes:

  • Housing

    Housing

    How aging adults navigate housing decisions, from accessibility and affordability to belonging and care, and how home environments evolve across life stages.

    1/10

  • Constraints and adaptation.

    How individuals adapt to personal and structural constraints as they age, physically, socially, and environmentally.


    2/10

  • Transfer of time and money.

    How financial support, unpaid labor, and time are redistributed across generations, often informally and invisibly, within aging households and care systems.


    3/10

  • Caregiving and aging in place.

    How individuals provide and receive care while remaining in familiar environments — and the emotional, logistical, and spatial adaptations that make this possible.

    4/10

  • Bereavement.

    How individuals experience and navigate loss, emotionally, socially, and structurally, and how grief reshapes identity, routines, and support networks over time.

    5/10

  • Work and retirement.

    How adults in midlife and beyond navigate changing relationships to work, identity, income, and purpose, and how transitions into retirement are shaped by broader economic, social, and cultural forces.

    6/10

  • Political behavior.

    How aging influences political participation, civic identity, and attitudes toward institutions, including shifts in engagement across life stages and social conditions.

    7/10

  • Volunteering.

    How older adults contribute time, skills, and care to their communities, and how volunteering supports identity, purpose, and social connection later in life.

    8/10

  • Technologies.

    How aging intersects with a rapidly accelerating technological era, including the rise of AI, automation, and digital identity. How individuals adapt, reject, or redefine their relationships with emerging tools that increasingly shape everyday life.

    9/10

  • End of life and medical expenses.

    How individuals and families navigate the emotional, financial, and practical realities of end-of-life planning and care, often under pressure, uncertainty, or limited support.

    10/10

Building knowledge over time

Rather than conducting isolated studies, we organize research around recurring themes—housing, caregiving, work, technology, community life, and end-of-life planning—so observations can accumulate and connect across contexts.

Insights from one environment inform questions in another. Patterns that appear in one city can be tested and refined in the next. Over time, this creates a body of knowledge that can be compared, layered, and revisited, not consumed as one-off reports, but built upon as understanding deepens.