Research on the Difference Between Recreational Walking and Transport Walking Among the Elderly in Mega Cities With Different Density Zones: The Case of Guangzhou City.

Shifa Ma,Peng Zang,Xiang Zhou,Hualong Qiu,Fei Xian,Yabo Zhao

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.775103

Abstract

Walking is the easiest method of physical activity for older people, and current research has demonstrated that the built environment is differently associated with recreational and transport walking. This study modelled the environmental characteristics of three different building density zones in Guangzhou city at low, medium, and high densities, and examined the differences in walking among older people in the three zones. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to investigate the recreational and transport walking time of older people aged 65 years and above for the past week, for a total of three density zones (N = 597) and was analysed as a dependent variable. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to identify 300, 500, 800, and 1,000 m buffers and to assess differences between recreational and transport walking in terms of the built environment [e.g., land-use mix, street connectivity, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data]. The data were processed and validated using the SPSS software to calculate Pearson's correlation models and stepwise regression models between recreation and transit walking and the built environment. The results found that land use mix and NDVI were positively correlated with transport walking in low-density areas and that transport walking was negatively correlated with roadway mediated centrality (BtE) and Point-of-Interest (PoI) density. Moreover, recreational walking in medium density areas was negatively correlated with self-rated health, road intersection density, and PoI density while positively correlated with educational attainment, population density, land use mix, street connectivity, PoIs density, and NDVI. Transport walking was negatively correlated with land-use mix, number of road crossings while positively correlated with commercial PoI density. Street connectivity, road intersection density, DNVI, and recreational walking in high-density areas showed negative correlations. Moreover, the built environment of older people in Guangzhou differed between recreational and transport walking at different densities. The richness of PoIs has different effects on different types of walking.

Highlights

Ageing TrendsThe problem of population ageing is becoming more and more serious worldwide, and the World Population Prospects 2019 programme predicts that the elderly population in China will reach 300 million by 2025, with the ageing rate exceeding 20% and entering a deeply ageing society
Our preliminary research of the 12 sample areas that we studied has revealed that the built environment varied significantly between the samples at different population densities in Guangzhou, so much so that during the initial modelling process it was found that the data for the built environment in the low-density areas significantly reduced the data for the more distinctive features of the built environment in the medium- and high-density areas
Respondents spent more total time walking for recreation than for transport, street connectivity gradually decreased with increasing density of the sample cities, road intersection density gradually increased with increasing urban density, the number of bus and metro stations increased step by step with increasing density of the sample cities, and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) decreased step by step with increasing density of the sample cities

Summary

Introduction

The problem of population ageing is becoming more and more serious worldwide, and the World Population Prospects 2019 programme predicts that the elderly population in China will reach 300 million by 2025, with the ageing rate exceeding 20% and entering a deeply ageing society. In 2019, China issued the National Medium and Long-term Plan for Actively Coping with Population Ageing and proposed the construction of a “high-quality service and product supply service system for the elderly,” with the home as the basis and the community as the backbone. During 2021, they saw the authorisation of the Xinhua News Agency to release the 14th Five-Year Plan [1], which clearly states, Section 3, “[i]mproving the elderly care service system,” that the system of elderly care at home should be improved, the urban environment should be adapted to ageing, and the community elderly care system should be improved. How to improve the participation and level of daily physical activity of the elderly to maintain their physical health has become an important topic of research and a hot topic in many fields at home and abroad

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