Search Results (228)

Background/Objectives: South Korea faces one of the world’s most rapid demographic transitions. As population ageing accelerates, creating environments that support healthy ageing-in-place has become a critical public health priority. Grounded in environmental gerontology and the WHO Age-Friendly Cities framework, Ko and colleagues developed the Age-Friendly City Index to assess physical, social, and service environments influencing older adults’ health and well-being; however, the index had only undergone face validity testing. This study empirically evaluated and refined the Index at the district level and examined regional disparities in age-friendliness across South Korean municipalities. Methods: Data from 89 randomly selected municipal (si-gun-gu) districts across 7 metropolitan and 8 provincial cities were drawn from 2020 national public administrative sources. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using Mplus 7.0. The retained indicators were standardized and aggregated into dimension and total scores. Exploratory comparisons between metropolitan and non-metropolitan municipalities were conducted using Welch’s t-tests. Results: The refined Index retained ten indicators across the three dimensions, including four for the physical environment, three for the social environment, and three for the service environment. The physical environment showed the strongest empirical coherence, whereas the social and service environments were weakly defined. Non-metropolitan municipalities had higher observed scores across all three dimensions and in the total score. Effect sizes ranged from moderate to large, with the largest difference observed in the physical environment. Conclusions: The refined Index offers a preliminary diagnostic framework for benchmarking age-friendliness, with the physical environment score providing the most dependable basis for comparison. Findings reveal pronounced regional disparities in per-older-resident environmental provision and underscore the need for region-specific public health and urban planning strategies to foster inclusive, supportive, and health-promoting communities for older adults. Full article

The design of urban pedestrian–cycling routes is of great importance for the sustainable development of cities. Properly designed routes encourage the use of sustainable modes of transport. They also bring numerous environmental and social benefits. The study examines how greenery and spatial characteristics influence citizens’ aesthetic perception of pedestrian and cycling corridors. The Scenic Beauty Estimation (SBE) method was used to assess visual landscape quality based on users’ subjective evaluations. A total of 301 participants evaluated 20 photographs taken in Lublin, Poland, depicting different types of urban routes, including sidewalks, cycling paths, and park pathways, using a five-point rating scale. Statistical analyses (ANOVA, post hoc tests, and composite and differential variable analyses) were conducted to identify patterns in preferences. The results indicate that greenery is the dominant factor shaping landscape preferences across all age and gender groups. Age plays a stronger role than gender in differentiating evaluations: younger participants prefer more natural and greener environments, whereas older participants favor more ordered and less green spaces. Gender effects are limited and primarily relate to preferences for natural landscapes. An additional finding concerns the role of benches, which were most preferred by younger and middle-aged women, suggesting a broader social and functional interpretation of this element. Overall, the results highlight the importance of greenery in shaping the perceived attractiveness of urban routes. They also indicate the key spatial features that encourage people to use these routes, which affects the use of sustainable modes of transport as well as residents’ health. They also demonstrate the usefulness of the SBE method in planning, design and managing user-friendly and sustainable urban routes. Full article

Proximity-based planning frameworks such as the 15 min city and community life circle (CLC) are widely promoted to improve age-friendly access to essential resources, based on the assumption that enlarging spatial scale improves access. This assumption remains largely untested in high-density aging cities, where neighborhood-level deprivation may persist even as aggregate access improves. Using 3737 residential communities in central Tianjin, China, this study jointly evaluates food and physical activity environments across 5, 10, and 15 min walking thresholds. We apply a three-dimensional demand–matching–spatial association framework that combines health-weighted accessibility, location quotient matching, and bivariate spatial autocorrelation. Food access shows a continuous core–periphery gradient, whereas physical activity access is fragmented and facility-dependent. Supply–demand matching shows divergent scale responses across resource domains. Aggregate accessibility increased as the CLC scale expanded. However, 45.88% of communities classified as LL at the 10 min scale remained LL at 15 min, substantially exceeding the overall LL proportion of 18.70% at the 15 min scale. Only 5.42% of communities classified as HL or LH transitioned to HH. This divergence between aggregate accessibility improvement and persistent local disadvantage is defined as ineffective expansion. Eight diagnostic types reveal a clear divide between deprived peripheries and advantage-maintenance conditions in the urban core. These findings suggest that age-friendly CLC planning should move beyond uniform service-area expansion toward type-specific, place-based interventions. Full article

Urban forest walkways provide accessible forest recreation opportunities within cities, but little is known about how different walkway landscape environments are associated with older adults’ perceived psychological restoration. This study examined three representative urban forest walkways in Fuzhou, China, by integrating image-based landscape classification with photo-elicitation questionnaires. A total of 1188 field photographs were collected, of which 963 valid images were used for landscape analysis. A SegNet-based semantic segmentation model was used to extract major landscape elements, and the images were subsequently classified into four landscape environment types. Questionnaire data were obtained from 415 older walkway users, generating 4980 respondent–image evaluation records. The SegNet model achieved a mean IoU of 79.4%. The high-naturalness canopy-immersive type received the highest scores for tranquillity, refuge, naturalness, landscape preference, and perceived psychological restoration, whereas the semi-open viewing-platform type showed the highest spaciousness and prospect scores. Landscape preference was positively associated with perceived psychological restoration in the mixed-effects model and partially mediated the associations between selected perceived landscape attributes and perceived psychological restoration. These findings suggest that age-friendly urban forest walkway design should maintain canopy immersion, provide semi-open viewing nodes, improve resting and interaction spaces, and refine forest-edge urban-interface sections. Full article

As China shifts from expansion-oriented urbanization to stock-based renewal, cities need diagnostic tools that can identify built-environment deficiencies and translate them into spatially targeted renewal priorities. Building on China’s official urban physical examination system, this study develops a land-renewal-oriented diagnostic workflow across four spatial scales: housing, community, block, and urban area. The framework integrates top-down objective assessment of land, facilities, infrastructure, environment, and safety conditions with bottom-up resident satisfaction evaluation. It then converts composite health scores, problem concentration, and safety relevance into three renewal priority categories: Priority Level III (critical renewal), Priority Level II (general renewal), and Priority Level I (long-term optimization). Using Wu’an, a resource-dependent county-level city in Hebei Province, as a case study, the results show that Priority Level III problems are concentrated mainly at the housing scale, especially corridor safety hazards, while widespread pipeline aging and age-friendly retrofitting needs are classified as Priority Level II medium-term renewal issues. Community and block scales mainly show facility, governance, and functional mismatches. The contribution of this study is not the four-tier scale structure itself, which is derived from existing policy, but the operational translation of urban physical examination results into spatial diagnosis for land renewal, renewal priority classification, and action-plan formulation. The workflow offers a transferable methodological reference for county-level stock renewal, while local indicators, thresholds, and implementation pathways require contextual adaptation. Full article

Individual differences in outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) are critical to the healthy use of urban public spaces, yet whether thermal preference can shape OTC independently of demographic characteristics remains largely unexamined. Using residential outdoor spaces in Fuzhou, a representative hot-humid city in China, as a case, this study combines field measurements and questionnaire data from 296 respondents (72.6% aged 60 or above) with explainable machine learning and K-Modes clustering to examine how thermal preference drives individual differences in OTC. Three stable preference profiles were identified—heat-sensitive (56.4%), wind-seeking (20.3%), and heat-tolerant (23.3%)—which exhibit markedly different thermal responses. The neutral globe temperature ranges from 29.90 °C for the heat-sensitive profile to 35.85 °C for the heat-tolerant profile, a difference of 5.95 °C, whereas the comfort bandwidth is widest for the heat-sensitive profile (9.03 °C) and narrowest for the heat-tolerant profile (4.13 °C), the former being 2.2 times the latter. The profiles are independent of sex and BMI and only weakly correlated with age, yet their explanatory power for the variance in thermal comfort vote (TCV) (η² = 0.254) is 4.9 to 23.1 times that of the demographic variables. The thermal environment contributes far more to TCV than the visual environment (74.4% versus 25.6%), with globe temperature (Tg) as the strongest single factor. Overall, differentiated design that adopts the most heat-sensitive profile as the constraint boundary covers the comfort needs of a broad population more effectively than demographic stratification. The novelty of this study lies in introducing psychologically grounded thermal-preference profiles as an operational stratification dimension for architectural design, offering age-friendly hot-humid residential environments a preference-oriented pathway toward refined, human-centered outdoor space design. Full article

The 15-minute life circle has become a critical planning paradigm for developing age-friendly cities; however, its implementation in small and medium-sized cities (SMSCs) is often constrained by topographical heterogeneity and the oversimplified use of facility density as a proxy for service efficiency. This study challenges the conventional assumption that a higher facility density automatically leads to better service outcomes and proposes a dynamic “space–demand–policy” analytical framework to identify the mechanisms underlying spatial mismatch. Using Zhifu District, Yantai, a rapidly aging urban area with complex topography, as a case study, we integrated kernel density estimation (KDE), slope-adjusted network analysis, a modified Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, and standard deviational ellipse (SDE) analysis. Our results reveal three key findings. First, a “high-density, low-efficiency” paradox is prevalent: older urban cores contain clusters of facilities but have supply–demand ratios below 0.5 because of limited service diversity and slope-induced reductions in accessibility, with the effective service radius decreasing to 750 m. Second, newly developed areas achieve service coverage rates below 50% when terrain constraints are considered, highlighting the limitations of static planning radii. Third, a 90% overlap between the directional distributions of residential areas and elderly care facilities, as indicated by their SDE major axes, supports the spatial feasibility of community-embedded aging-in-place models; however, physical proximity alone does not guarantee effective service delivery. By adapting generic spatial algorithms to create a terrain-sensitive planning tool, this study provides a transferable framework for evidence-based and targeted elderly care planning in SMSCs facing similar demographic and geographic constraints. The proposed framework contributes to the global sustainability agenda and advances SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by promoting more equitable resource allocation and supporting the development of age-friendly, walkable, and sustainable communities in topographically complex urban areas. Full article

Studies on the association between green spaces and childhood allergic diseases are limited and have yielded inconsistent results across different regions. Furthermore, this relationship remains underexplored in Chengdu, China. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between the residential greening rate, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), proportion of allergenic plants (proportion of allergenic woody plants, proportion of allergenic herbaceous plants), the closeness-to-nature characteristics of children’s playgrounds, and childhood allergic diseases in Chengdu. Seven representative neighborhoods were selected based on a 2018 database of pediatric patients from West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Through questionnaires in 2025, data on allergic diseases (e.g., atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis) were collected for 210 children aged 0–6 years. Logistic regression models were employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that in the overall sample, residential greening rate, NDVI, proportion of allergenic plants and closeness-to-nature characteristics of children’s playgrounds showed no significant association with allergic diseases. However, subgroup analyses revealed that greening rate was positively associated with allergy risk among children aged 0–3 years, whereas the proportion of allergenic woody plants was negatively associated with allergy risk in this age group; residential NDVI was significantly negatively associated with allergy risk in low-to-medium-housing-price neighborhoods (<19,000 CNY/m²), but positively associated in high-housing-price neighborhoods (≥19,000 CNY/m²); the proportion of allergenic herbaceous plants was significantly negatively associated with allergy risk in children only in high-housing-price neighborhoods. The presence of children’s playgrounds, accessibility of natural elements, integration of sites and facilities into the landscape, and use of natural materials in playgrounds and facilities showed a negative trend with allergy risk in low-to-medium-housing-price neighborhoods; the integration of sites and facilities into the landscape was significantly positively associated with allergy risk in high-rise neighborhoods. Collectively, these associations vary based on individual and neighborhood characteristics. Targeted green space planning and design interventions should be context-specific, synergistically optimizing vegetation coverage and plant composition, while enhancing the closeness-to-nature characteristics of children’s playgrounds within neighborhoods. Our results provide empirical evidence that may offer insights into the development of healthy and child-friendly cities. Full article

India’s rapidly growing aging population faces significant challenges in built environments that prioritize efficiency over dignity. This study applies a domain–dignity mapping methodology to operationalize dignity within the built environment of Jammu city, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 30 older residents across three neighborhoods, namely Talab Tillo, Shakti Nagar, and Gandhi Nagar. Six built environment domains were mapped against five dignity constructs using an interdependence matrix of aggregated coded scores. The results indicate strong associations between mobility and autonomy, as well as safety and security. Governance shows a significant association with recognition, while social environment shapes belonging and participation. This study provides a preliminary foundation for a Dignity Assessment Tool for age-friendly urban environments in India. Full article

The association between urban green space (UGS) and public health represents a core interdisciplinary issue in ecological city construction and the “Healthy China” strategy. However, the underlying mechanisms, contextual constraints, and regional heterogeneity of the impact of UGS on public health at the provincial macro-scale remain insufficiently understood. Existing research primarily examined the health effects of green space at the resident-level micro-scale, with samples often limited to single cities or local urban clusters. Furthermore, limited attention has been paid to the moderating mechanisms and nonlinear threshold characteristics through which green space affects public health. Using panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2023, this study empirically investigates the effects, moderating mechanisms, threshold effects, and regional heterogeneity of UGS on public health through two-way fixed-effects ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, moderation models, and threshold regression models. UGS The results show the following: (1) From 2012 to 2023, the overall levels of provincial UGS and public health in China increased, exhibiting a spatial distribution pattern characterized by higher levels in the east and lower levels in the west. (2) The development level of UGSs is significantly and positively associated with provincial public health in China; (3) The health-promoting effects of UGSs exhibit both moderation and threshold characteristics. Environmental regulation, traffic accessibility, and population aging exert positive moderating effects, whereas the level of urbanization exhibits a nonlinear threshold relationship. (4) Regarding regional heterogeneity, the health benefits of green spaces are more pronounced in urban functional zones and coastal regions, whereas key ecological functional zones and major grain-producing areas demonstrate synergies between ecological protection and health improvement. Accordingly, China should strengthen the coordinated advancement of UGS planning and public health protection, optimize the spatial layout of age-friendly green space, improve the supporting environmental regulation systems, and thereby promote the coordinated development of residents’ health and well-being and ecological environmental quality. Full article

At this stage, China is entering a phase of development characterized by both an aging population and a declining birth rate. As a vital link between individuals and the city, communities face a dual challenge: on the one hand, demographic shifts have revealed that public spaces and facilities struggle to meet the diverse needs of residents of all ages; on the other hand, traditional planning often focuses on a single spatial dimension and lacks systematic research into residents’ temporal–spatial behaviors and interactions among diverse groups, leading to inefficient use of space and frequent conflicts over public activities. To this end, this paper conducts temporal–spatial behavior planning with the goal of maximizing the efficiency of activities and the utilization of time and space, taking into account the needs of different age groups. A case study was conducted using the Tuolejia District in Nanjing as an example. Based on intelligent data analysis and implementation, the results show that during the day, recreational spaces for children and adolescents in this neighborhood are more concentrated, with an utilization rate of over 85%. The amount of accessible space for seniors aged 60 and older has increased by approximately 30% (with a significant improvement in accessibility for the group of seniors aged 80 and older, who account for about 9% of the total). At night, the utilization rate of parking spaces for residents and visitors in the neighborhood exceeds 80%. This planning approach transcends the limitations of a single spatial dimension and proposes an integrated strategy for time-sharing, multi-objective optimization, and behavioral incentives in community public spaces designed to address intergenerational conflicts. It provides a practical framework and practical support for advancing the renewal of age-friendly communities. Full article

Despite an ageing society emerging as a global challenge, urban spaces still do not adequately address the spatial needs of older citizens. Numerous studies analyse built environment characteristics in relation to the mobility of older citizens, yet studies on the quality of older pedestrians’ perception of spatial attributes with their levels are scarce. This scoping review of 2855 records from 2013 to 2023, exported from Scopus and Web of Science, aimed to identify common patterns with respect to the aspects used in the assessment of the quality of urban spaces for older adults, with the emphasis placed on spatial attributes measured through different levels. Following PRISMA-ScR, the analysis was conducted in AsReview, a scientific tool using ML. Inclusion criteria were: peer-reviewed English-language journal articles and conference papers; the inclusion of spatial attributes in urban planning, measuring the perception of pedestrians, using a conjoint experiment, or urban digital twins; and taking into account an ageing society. The author performed the coding of 115 eligible records in four iterative rounds with the use of Atlas.ti. The findings show that Land Use & Buildings/Destinations, Sidewalk and Amenities, and Aesthetics/Urban Form were the most frequently occurring aspects. Attribute levels were proposed only in 10 records. No study incorporated stated preference and 3D walk-through environments to quantify older adults’ perception of walkability-related attributes. This represents a methodological gap for future research on older adults’ walkability perception. Urban planners and other decision-makers may use the findings of this study to support the design and management of age-friendly, sustainable, and inclusive street environments. Full article

In the context of rapid population aging, aging in place, or remaining in one’s home and community as one grows older, has become an important policy and research issue. This study examines how environmental factors related to age-friendly cities are associated with aging in place across age groups in urban regeneration areas, focusing on nine urban regeneration community facilities in Daegu, South Korea. Survey data from 563 adults with experience using these facilities were used as the primary dataset, supplemented by GIS-based neighborhood environment data. Environmental factors were categorized into three dimensions—built environment, social environment, and health and social services—and their associations with aging in place were examined using logistic regression models estimated separately for three age groups (young, middle-aged, and older adults). The results indicate that associations between environmental factors and aging in place vary across age groups. The built environment was more strongly associated with aging in place among older adults, particularly in relation to housing and transportation, whereas the social environment, including social inclusion and participation, was significant only among young adults. Within health and social services, community support and health services were consistently associated with aging in place across all age groups. In addition, descriptive findings from selected cases indicate that high levels of aging in place among older adults were observed in both transit-oriented urban settings and nature-oriented non-urban settings. Overall, the findings highlight the need for age-responsive and context-sensitive environmental strategies in urban regeneration areas. Full article

Population aging has become a significant global phenomenon, particularly in developing countries where urban systems are not fully prepared to support older adults. Although the concept of age-friendly cities has been widely promoted, many municipalities still lack an integrated database that links health, social, economic, and environmental dimensions to support policymaking and built-environment improvement. This study aims to develop and validate a four-dimensional healthy aging database framework for assessing age-friendly built environments and public facilities at the municipal level. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative surveys, built-environment assessments, and functional ability evaluation using the Barthel Activities of Daily Living Index. The study was conducted in Rangsit Municipality, Thailand, as a case study. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework can systematically integrate multidimensional aging data and identify priority areas for housing improvement, public facility modification, and community services. The framework also supports evidence-based decision-making and place-based policy implementation for age-friendly urban development. This study contributes a practical database framework and assessment tool that can assist local governments in evidence-based, inclusive, and sustainable urban development and aging societies. Full article

Museums serve as experimental spaces for smart cities. The hypothesis suggests that museums can offer insights into transitioning smart cities from a mainly data-centric model to one that emphasises sensory experiences. This qualitative study investigates how digitalisation shapes the sensory experiences of museum engagement among older adults in Istanbul, with a particular focus on how digital tools mediate embodied, sensory experiences in museum environments. A case study was conducted at Istanbul Modern, employing sensewalking as a mobile, sensory method to capture embodied perceptions during movement through space. Data analysis focused on four sensory modalities—visual, auditory, haptic and olfactory—and their interaction with museum digital interfaces. The findings reveal a predominantly visual museum experience, where lighting design and the legibility of digital labels enhance orientation and interpretive clarity. Auditory engagement is shaped by layered ambient sounds combined with digital audio content. Haptic experiences emerge through both material textures and interactive digital interfaces, while olfactory perceptions remain subtle. Importantly, digital tools extend engagement beyond vision by introducing complementary auditory and haptic layers, thereby enhancing accessibility for older users. The study situates its insights within broader discussions of age-friendly, accessible museum design and practices of the smart city. Full article