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An Accessibility-based Framework for Enhancing a Socially-Sustainable Urban Built Environment for Seniors
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- Author / Creator
- Chen, Yuan
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Population ageing has a significant impact on the age structure of the population of an entire country and can introduce regional differences with respect to demographic measures, such as the rate of population growth, geographic distribution of elderly people, and the degree of population ageing, especially in developing countries. These long-standing and increasingly evident differences can hinder effective resource distribution among regions. In addition to the social influences, the rapid growth of the older-adult segment of the population also has a profound effect on city infrastructure needs and urban design. In general, the current urban built environment is not well developed to cope with the unprecedented challenges related to the increase in senior population. For instance, the location of age-restricted communities that serve older adults aged 65 or older can influence accessibility to goods and services and further affect the health and quality of life of seniors. However, few quantitative indicators are available to judge whether the accessibility of neighboring facilities to these communities is appropriate, and few studies focus on improving accessibility of urban facilities and services for seniors. Furthermore, not all residents in a city, especially socially disadvantaged groups (SDGs) (e.g., seniors or children), can benefit from similar levels of accessibility given existing urban resources such as public transportation. Therefore, this research proposes an accessibility-based framework in order to enhance a socially-sustainable urban built environment for seniors. Five primary modules are involved in the research: (1) a methodology is developed for exploring differences in regional population ageing from both temporal and spatial perspectives; (2) a spatial analysis framework is established for age-restricted communities to analyze their spatial distribution, identify age-friendly communities, and measure and evaluate accessibility of different types of age-restricted communities to neighboring facilities that are important to seniors; (3) a methodology supported by the geographic information system (GIS) is developed to identify the relative spatial gaps in public transport supply and demand from seniors at the statistical area (SA) level, such as gaps among census tracts (CTs), traffic analysis zones (TAZs), and neighborhoods; (4) a systematic methodology is developed to assess the accessibility-based service effectiveness (ABSEV) of urban bus transit in consideration of social equity; and (5) a bi-level decision support model (BLDSM) is developed to optimize bus route distribution and enhance the level of accessibility for seniors in age-restricted communities. The outcome of this research is expected to propose a systematic approach to enhance accessibility of seniors to urban facilities and services in the built environment within the context of population ageing from the perspective of social sustainability.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2019
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.