Optimizing Living Service Amenities for Diverse Urban Residents: A Supply and Demand Balancing Analysis

Abstract

Urban residents’ well-being relies on fair access to living service amenities. To plan better living service amenities, planners need to balance supply and demand and find gaps and opportunities. We performed a spatial analysis of 2645 residential complexes in Xi’an, Shaanxi, China’s built-up area, using POI (Point of Interest), AOI (Area of Interest), and census and property data. We measured the supply status of 14 living service amenities by their number and distance and estimated the demand status of residents by their number and age. We also used location entropy and coupling coordination degree to measure the balance status. The results showed a spatial mismatch between supply and demand, with more amenities in the urban center where fewer and older residents lived, and fewer amenities in the suburbs where more and younger residents lived. The urban center had a location benefit but a lower coupling degree. The imbalance was mainly due to land finance and geographical segregation from unequal resource distribution. We also gave a visualization tool for planners to check any residential complex’s status and make informed decisions for amenity planning and construction.