Accessibility Evaluation of High Order Urban Hospitals for the Elderly: A Case Study of First-Level Hospitals in Xi’an, China
School of Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
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Symmetry 2018, 10(10), 489; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym10100489
Received: 11 September 2018
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Revised: 3 October 2018
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Accepted: 8 October 2018
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Published: 12 October 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry in Engineering Sciences)
With reference to the hospitalizing trips made by the elderly, the impedance of these trips that require the use of public transportation, is introduced. An evaluation model that can accurately detect the accessibility of high order urban hospitals (HOUHs) for the elderly is established with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Furthermore, the established model is employed to detect the accessibility of first-level hospitals in Xi’an City. Results showed that the traffic connection between hospitals and their service objects is an important factor for the feasibility and effectiveness of an accessibility evaluation. It is suggested that special evaluations of the accessibility of hospitals for the elderly are needed to achieve the human-oriented goal of urban traffic planning. The well-served spatial pattern of hospitalizing accessibility for the elderly in Xi’an City has been established in recent years because of the strategies for public transit metropolis. The accessibility constraints can be divided into three types: The imprisonment, the antagonism and the running-in, for which the corresponding countermeasures to settle the low accessibility of hospitals will be taken by the planning administration. Attention is paid to specific population groups during their hospitalizing trips in the accessibility research, which is beneficial for enabling the improvement of the current traditional method which is mainly based on travel facilities.
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Keywords:
aged; high order urban hospitals (HOUHs); accessibility; evaluation model; trip impedance based on public transportation; urban traffic planning
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ruan, K.; Zhang, Q. Accessibility Evaluation of High Order Urban Hospitals for the Elderly: A Case Study of First-Level Hospitals in Xi’an, China. Symmetry 2018, 10, 489. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym10100489
AMA Style
Ruan K, Zhang Q. Accessibility Evaluation of High Order Urban Hospitals for the Elderly: A Case Study of First-Level Hospitals in Xi’an, China. Symmetry. 2018; 10(10):489. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym10100489
Chicago/Turabian StyleRuan, Ke, and Qi Zhang. 2018. "Accessibility Evaluation of High Order Urban Hospitals for the Elderly: A Case Study of First-Level Hospitals in Xi’an, China" Symmetry 10, no. 10: 489. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym10100489
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