Abstract
This paper explores the role of car sharing in better meeting the needs of older adults, through a case study of Arvida Park Lane (APL) – an upscale retirement village in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, which hosts the largest retirement village car-sharing scheme in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 20 residents, the research identifies how APL's car sharing scheme and related activities both supported and unsettled everyday life: reshaping perspectives on independence and interdependence, supporting opportunities for ageing well and practices of care, building community, and simultaneously, amplifying relational tensions. The paper argues that APL's scheme has partially evolved into a commons: reconfiguring meaning and practice while remaining entangled with some private ownership and entitlement logics. Even as partial commons, APL's car sharing and related activities shows the potential for cultural and relational shifts in how mobility is understood, organised, and practiced – pointing towards wider possibilities for reimagining mobility as a collective good in contexts of ageing and beyond.