ABSTRACT

This cross-sectional survey of 12 age groups in the Canadian urban population detected age differences in consumers’ value orientations. Thus, Canada’s changing age structure will probably be accompanied by a shift in value orientations – the collective result of value orientational changes as a person ages. Because personal values determine the types of services that are important to a consumer, this shift in values will alter the demand for several kinds of urban services and facilities in the next 20 years – in particular, fine restaurants, movie theatres and family theme parks, as well as for many kinds of health-care facilities.