Healthy and Age-Friendly Cities in the People's Republic of China


Book Description

Rapid urbanization and aging in many countries including the People’s Republic of China, along with lessons learned from the coronavirus disease pandemic, emphasize the urgent need to make cities healthier and more accessible for the elderly. This report offers an operational framework to turn the challenges of an emerging four-generation urban society into opportunities. Health impact assessments as well as healthy and age-friendly city action and management plans are proposed as holistic tools to create positive health outcomes and improve urban livability, services, and public spaces. Integrated with urban planning, these practical tools will help make cleaner, healthier, and safer cities that are more pleasant and competitive for people, business and economic development.




Global Age-friendly Cities


Book Description

The guide is aimed primarily at urban planners, but older citizens can use it to monitor progress towards more age-friendly cities. At its heart is a checklist of age-friendly features. For example, an age-friendly city has sufficient public benches that are well-situated, well-maintained and safe, as well as sufficient public toilets that are clean, secure, accessible by people with disabilities and well-indicated. Other key features of an age-friendly city include: well-maintained and well-lit sidewalks; public buildings that are fully accessible to people with disabilities; city bus drivers who wait until older people are seated before starting off and priority seating on buses; enough reserved parking spots for people with disabilities; housing integrated in the community that accommodates changing needs and abilities as people grow older; friendly, personalized service and information instead of automated answering services; easy-to-read written information in plain language; public and commercial services and stores in neighbourhoods close to where people live, rather than concentrated outside the city; and a civic culture that respects and includes older persons.




Review on Planning and Design of Public Open Space for Aging Population in Hong Kong


Book Description

This dissertation, "Review on Planning and Design of Public Open Space for Aging Population in Hong Kong: a Case Study in Wan Chai District" by Pui-shan, Theodora, Chan, 陳佩姗, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: It has been observed that many older people after retirement would like to visit various green open spaces in the city to exercise, social and doing different leisure activities (Lam, et. al., 2004; Wong, 2009). However, although there are 40% of land area in Hong Kong are recognized as Country Parks and well managed by the government, with the rapid urban development with enormous high-rise buildings has turned Hong Kong in a "concrete forest," only few decent open spaces can be found in the metropolitan area. With the continuous growing aging population, there is a need for us to review whether the important urban open spaces can meet the needs of changing population. The goal of the dissertation aims at find out the existing problems in planning and design of public open space and find out the needs of the elderly, so that better public open space can be provided to suit the elderly's expectation. The analysis is therefore divided into two parts by reviewing on the planning and management of public open space framework and the outcome of provision and distribution of open spaces, as well as finding out the use pattern and expectation from the elderly on public open space. Based on the findings of this project, recommendations are provided for the planning and management authority to improve the existing public open spaces in order to suit the needs and expectations of the elderly. It includes a better cooperation between different departments to carry out a more comprehensive open space strategy and better design of open spaces on external linkages and internal landscape and facilities provision. DOI: 10.5353/th_b5319160 Subjects: Open spaces - China - Hong Kong




Aging in China


Book Description

China, which is fast on its way to becoming the most powerful economic force in the world, has four unique characteristics that distinguish it from other countries in Asia: (1) The proportion of aging population is growing faster than that of Japan (the country previously recognized as having the fastest rate) and much faster than nations in western Europe. (2) An early arrival of an aging population before modernization has fully taken place, with social policy implications. It is certain that China will face a severely aged population before it has sufficient time and resources to establish an adequate social security and service system for older people. (3) There will be fluctuations in the total dependency ratio. The Chinese government estimates are that the country will reach a higher dependent burden earlier in the twenty-first century than was previously forecast. (4) The government’s fertility policy (single child per family) and its implementation has a strong influence on the aging process. Fewer children are being born, but with more elderly people a conflict arises between the objectives to limit population increase and yet maintain a balanced age structure (Peng and Guo 2001). The intersection of these fourfold factors means that the increased aging population is giving rise to serious concerns among Chinese social policy makers. There is a chronic lack of good resource materials that attempt to make sense of social policy in its relationship to examining the problems and possibilities of human aging grounded in an analysis of economic of social policy in China and impact on rural and urban spaces. Such analysis of China will be covered by conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches. The book will also discuss substantive topics of housing, community care, family care, pensions, and mental health. The book brings together a truly world class array of researchers to provide discussions of critical implications of aging social policy and the economic impact in China.




Geographical Gerontology


Book Description

Understanding where ageing occurs, how it is experienced by different people in different places, and in what ways it is transforming our communities, economies and societies at all levels has become crucial for the development of informed research, policy and programmes. This book focuses on the interdisciplinary field of study – geographical gerontology – that addresses these issues. With contributions from more than 30 leading geographers and gerontologists, the book examines the scope and depth of geographical perspectives, concepts and approaches applied to the study of ageing, old age and older populations. The book features 25 chapters organized into five parts that cover the field’s theoretical traditions and intellectual evolution; the contributions of key disciplinary perspectives from population geography, social and cultural geography, health geography, urban planning and environmental studies; the scales of inquiry within geographical gerontology from the global to the embodied; the thematic breadth of contemporary issues of interest that define the field (places, spaces and landscapes of ageing); and a discussion about challenges, opportunities and agendas for future developments in geography and gerontology. This book provides the first comprehensive foundation of knowledge about the state of the art of geographical gerontology that will be of interest to scholars of ageing around the world.




Aging in the Context of Urbanization


Book Description

As China has undergone rapid urbanization and population aging in the past few decades, improving the welfare of older people in rural areas has become an ever more pressing issue. This title is the first book-length work to examine the influence of urbanization on the mental health of China’s older population outside the city. Incorporating the theoretical framework of social ecology, the author analyzes the socio-cultural factors that have exerted an impact on participants’ mental health, such as their personal life course transition, changes to family living arrangements and community restructuring. Moreover, he introduces several elderly mental health intervention models in China, while evaluating the policy initiatives that have developed based on China’s local resource sufficiency, cultural customs, and older people's needs. The research findings not only facilitate a deeper understanding of China's welfare policy making, but also offers a useful reference for countries that are experiencing similar urbanization and population aging and that wish to formulate better social policies. Students and scholars of social policy, welfare, and gerontology will find this title to be essential reading.




Green Infrastructure in Chinese Cities


Book Description

Since 2014, and the start of the New-type Urbanization Plan (NUP), we see a turning point in the sustainability agenda of China. One of the main indicators is greening cities and the built environments, which will be covered holistically in this edited book. From the perspective of green infrastructure, in particular, the book approaches key areas of ‘forest city development’, ‘sponge city program’, ‘green roofing’, ‘nature-based solutions’, ‘urban farming’, ‘eco-city development’, etc. This is the first time that such important areas of research come together under the perspective of green Infrastructure. The results would be beneficial to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in China and across the globe. The comprehensive set of findings from this book will benefit other countries, as we aim to highlight some of the best practices of the current age. The main aim of the book is to put together an excellent group of scholars and practitioners from the field, focusing on the topic of ‘Green Infrastructure in Chinese Cities’. In doing so, we aim to cover some of the key ‘best practices’ for sustainable urbanism. Divided into four parts, the book covers four key areas of (1) Policy Interventions, (2) Planning Innovation, (3) Design Solutions, and (4) Technical Integration. In doing so, we cover an array of best practices related to green infrastructures of various types and their impacts on cities and communities in China. We expect the book to be a valuable resource for researchers in the areas of sustainability, urbanism, urban planning, urban geography, urban design, geographical sciences, environmental sciences, landscape architecture, and urban ecology. The book covers essential factors such as policy, regulations, and programs (in Part 1), planning paradigms and their impacts on urban development (in Part 2), integrated design solutions that suggest sustainable urbanization progression (in Part 3), and technical knowledge that would be utilized for the future development of green infrastructure practices in China and beyond. Lastly, this edited book aims to provide a collaborative opportunity for experts and researchers of the field, who could contribute to the future pathways of sustainable urbanization of China. Lessons extracted from these contributions could be utilized for other contexts, which will benefit a wider group of stakeholders.