scholarly journals Non-Linear Effects of the Built Environment and Social Environment on Bus Use among Older Adults in China: An Application of the XGBoost Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9592
Author(s):  
Lanjing Wang ◽  
Chunli Zhao ◽  
Xiaofei Liu ◽  
Xumei Chen ◽  
Chaoyang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Dwelling Unit ◽  
Bus Stop ◽  
Environment Variable ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Unit Density

Global aging has raised increasing concerns on the health and well-being of older adults. Public transport is a viable option to improve the mobility and quality of life among older adults. However, policies that promote the public transport use among older adults are rare. This study utilizes the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) decision tree to explore the non-linear associations of the built and social environment with bus use among older adults in China. The bus use of older adults was obtained from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. Results show that non-linear relationships exist among all built environment and social environment characteristics. Within certain thresholds, the percentage of green space land use, land use mixture, bus-stop density, and dwelling unit density are positively related to bus use among older adults. Likewise, one social environment variable, the proportion of older adults in a neighborhood, is the key social environment variable. Furthermore, the dwelling unit density and proportion of older adults appear to have an inverse U-shaped relationship. Additionally, age, ownership of motorcycles, and distance from home to the nearest bus stop also show non-linearity. The findings presented in this paper facilitate effective planning interventions to promote bus use among older adults.

scholarly journals Non-linear Relationships Between the Built Environment and Walking Frequency Among Older Adults in Zhongshan, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiani Wu ◽  
Chunli Zhao ◽  
Chaoyang Li ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Lanjing Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Additive Model ◽  
Walking Behavior ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Walking Activity ◽  
Non Linear

Aim: Promoting walking activity is an effective way to improve the health of older adults. Walking frequency is a critical component of walking behavior and an essential determinant of daily walking levels. To decipher the association between the built environment and walking frequency among older adults, this study's aims are as follows: (1) to empirically test whether non-linear relationships between the two exist, and (2) to identify the thresholds of the built environment characteristics that promote walking.Methods: The walking frequency of old adults was derived from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. The sample size of old adults aged 60 or over was 4784 from 274 urban and rural neighborhoods. A semi-parametric generalized additive model (GAMM) is used to analyze the non-linear or non-monotonic relationships between the built environment and the walking frequency among older adults.Results: We found that non-linear relationships exist among five out of the six built environment characteristics. Within certain thresholds, the population density, sidewalk density, bus stop density, land use mixture, and the percentage of green space are positively related to older adults' walking trips. Furthermore, the land use mixture and the percentage of green space show an inverse “V”-shaped relationship.Conclusions: Built environment features can either support or hinder the walking frequency among older adults. The findings in the current study contribute to effective land use and transport policies for promoting active travel among older adults.

scholarly journals Eye-Level Street Greenery and Walking Behaviors of Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (17) ◽  
pp. 6130
Author(s):  
Peng Zang ◽  
Xuhong Liu ◽  
Yabo Zhao ◽  
Hongxu Guo ◽  
Yi Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Street Connectivity ◽  
Design Consideration ◽  
Methodological Limitation ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Walking Time

Evidence suggests that built environment characteristics affect older adults’ travel activity behaviors, e.g., walking and cycling, which have well-established health benefits. However, the relationship between urban greenery and walking behaviors remains unclear, partly due to methodological limitation. Previous studies often measured urban greenery from a bird’s eye perspective, which may mismatch with the pedestrian’s perception from the street. In this study, we measured greenery view index from eye-level streetscape photos retrieved from Baidu Street View, an online mapping service provider. Walking behaviors of 180 older adults in six neighborhoods were collected from questionnaires. We also measured land use diversity, pedestrian-oriented design (street connectivity), and population density—the three Ds of the built environment. Results show that street greenery view index contributes to walking time of older adults, suggesting street greenery should be taken into design consideration to promote walking behaviors of older adults.

scholarly journals A comparative study of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) at Yogyakarta Railway Station

2018 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 02001
Author(s):  
Okkie Putriani ◽  
Ibnu Fauzi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Transit Oriented Development ◽  
Railway Station ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bus Stop ◽  
Alternative Location ◽  
Bus Stops ◽  
The Impact

Optimizing the public transport and synergizing the land use can reduce the impact of urban development by attracting the development around the transit station. This situation encourages the accessibility of public transportation by creating conditions between passenger expectations realted to the concept Transit Oriented Development (TOD) between land use, mobility, and environment. This study was conducted by TOD with the area located in the center of local wisdom by cultural city, Yogyakarta Railway Station. The purpose of this study is to provide an alternative location where bus stops or Trans Jogja shelters are more easily accessible by users of rail services and facilitate the model’s transfer. The method of this research is descriptive quantitative. It explains the trans it function, needs and condition of Trans Jogja as the existing public transport and the accessibility of the bus stops. The conclusion is the recommendation for the bus stop location can be relocate near the dropout East and South area of the Railway Station

scholarly journals The Association of Built Environment and Physical Activity in Older Adults: Using a Citywide Public Housing Scheme to Reduce Residential Self-Selection Bias

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Lu ◽  
Long Chen ◽  
Yiyang Yang ◽  
Zhonghua Gou
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Housing Scheme ◽  
Recreational Walking ◽  
Housing Estates

Previous studies have documented numerous health benefits of conducting regular physical activity among older adults. The built environment is believed to be a key factor that can hinder or facilitate daily physical activity, such as walking and exercising. However, most empirical studies focusing on environment-physical activity associations exhibited residential self-selection bias with cross-sectional research design, engendering doubts about the impact of built environment on physical activity. To reduce this bias, we assessed physical activity behaviors of 720 Hong Kong older adults (≥65 years) residing in 24 public housing estates. The Hong Kong public housing scheme currently provides affordable rental flats for 2.1 million people or approximate 30% of total population. The applicants were allocated to one of 179 housing estates largely by family size and flat availability. Built environment characteristics were measured following the ‘5Ds’ principle: (street network) design, (land-use) diversity, density, distance to transit, and destination accessibility. Multilevel mixed models were used to explore the associations between the built environment and the different domains of physical activity (transportation walking, recreational walking, and recreational moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) while controlling for potential estate-level socioeconomic and individual confounders. We found that transportation walking was positively associated with the number of bus stops and the presence of Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations. Recreational MVPA was positively related to the number of recreational facilities. However, land-use mix was negatively related to transportation walking, recreational walking, and recreational MVPA. The findings of this study support a threshold effect in the environment-physical activity associations. Furthermore, large-scale public housing schemes involving random or semi-random residence assignment in many cities may provide opportunities to explore built environments and physical activity behavior, with the potential to overcome residential self-selection bias.

scholarly journals Spatially Varying Effects of Street Greenery on Walking Time of Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 596
Author(s):  
Linchuan Yang ◽  
Jixiang Liu ◽  
Yuan Liang ◽  
Yi Lu ◽  
Hongtai Yang
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Geographically Weighted Regression ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Local Models ◽  
Walking Behavior ◽  
Environment Variable ◽  
Spatially Varying ◽  
Walking Time

Population aging has become a notable and enduring demographic phenomenon worldwide. Older adults’ walking behavior is determined by many factors, such as socioeconomic attributes and the built environment. Although a handful of recent studies have examined the influence of street greenery (a built environment variable readily estimated by big data) on older adults’ walking behavior, they have not focused on the spatial heterogeneity in the influence. To this end, this study extracts the socioeconomic and walking behavior data from the Travel Characteristic Survey 2011 of Hong Kong and estimates street greenery (the green view index) based on Google Street View imagery. It then develops global models (linear regression and Box–Cox transformed models) and local models (geographically weighted regression models) to scrutinize the average (global) and location-specific (local) relationships, respectively, between street greenery and older adults’ walking time. Notably, green view indices in three neighborhoods with different sizes are estimated for robustness checks. The results show that (1) street greenery has consistent and significant effects on walking time; (2) the influence of street greenery varies across space—specifically, it is greater in the suburban area; and (3) the performance of different green view indices is highly consistent.

scholarly journals Nonlinear Associations of the Built Environment with Cycling Frequency among Older Adults in Zhongshan, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (20) ◽  
pp. 10723
Author(s):  
Wenxiao Wang ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Chunli Zhao ◽  
Xiaofei Liu ◽  
Xumei Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Gradient Boosting ◽  
Household Travel Survey ◽  
Extreme Gradient Boosting ◽  
Cycling Frequency ◽  
Nonlinear Associations ◽  
Household Travel ◽  
Intersection Density

The health and welfare of older adults have raised increasing attention due to global aging. Cycling is a physical activity and mode of transportation to enhance the mobility and quality of life among older adults. Nevertheless, the planning strategies to promote cycling among older adults are underutilized. Therefore, this paper describes the nonlinear associations of the built environment with cycling frequency among older adults. The data were collected from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. The modeling approach was the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model. The findings demonstrated that nonlinear relationships exist among all the selected built environment attributes. Within specific intervals, the population density, the land-use mixture, the distance from home to the nearest bus stop, and the distance from home to CBD are positively correlated to the cycling among older adults. Additionally, an inverse “U”-shaped relationship appears in the percentage of green space land use among all land uses. Moreover, the intersection density is inversely related to the cycling frequency among older adults. These findings provide nuanced and appropriate guidance for establishing age-friendly neighborhoods.

scholarly journals How does the built environment affect transit use by train, tram and bus?

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 625-650
Author(s):  
Chris De Gruyter ◽  
Tayebeh Saghapour ◽  
Liang Ma ◽  
Jago Dodson
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Demand Forecasting ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Transit Ridership ◽  
Transit Use

While much research has explored the influence of the built environment on public transport use, little focus has been given to how this influence varies by public transport mode. Using a case study of Melbourne, this study assesses the influence of the built environment and other characteristics (transit service quality, demand management and socio-demographics) on commuting by train, tram and bus. Key findings indicate that the built environment has a significant influence, but with notable differences between individual public transport modes. Commuting by tram was found to have the strongest association with the explanatory variables, while bus had the weakest explanatory power. Differences in the geographical coverage of public transport services in Melbourne play a key role in explaining the influence of the built environment. Population density is positively associated with tram use, which operates in older, higher density environments, but is negatively associated with train and bus use. Furthermore, the association with land-use mix is only significant for train and tram use, as buses tend to operate in areas with greater land-use homogeneity. When focused on inner Melbourne only, the influence of the built environment is diluted, while distance to public transport becomes more significant. The findings have important implications for practice, not only in terms of improving transit demand forecasting but also in targeting changes to the built environment to leverage higher transit ridership by mode.

Understanding the role of the public transport network in the greater Sydney area in providing access to dental care

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Patel ◽  
Marc Tennant ◽  
Estie Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Transport Network ◽  
Spatial Accessibility ◽  
Medium Frequency ◽  
Dental Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bus Stop ◽  
Disadvantaged People

Objective The aim of this study was to examine the spatial accessibility of the aged and older adult population of the greater Sydney region to the bus public transport network, and the proximity of this transportation route to public and private dental services. Methods This study used geographic information systems (GIS) to examine, at a population level, the spatial accessibility of the public transport network and dental provider locations. The prime focus of the present study was on the aging population residing within 50 km of the General Post Office of metropolitan Sydney. Retirees (aged ≥65 years) and older adults (aged ≥85 years) were the two subsets of the aging population. Results Sydney’s bus network is currently supplying bus transport to both older and disadvantaged groups, facilitating the needs of more than half a million older people. Regardless of socioeconomic status, 12% of the entire population, 11.5% of retirees and 10.8% of older adults resided 500 m away from accessible medium-frequency bus stops. Approximately 40% of the overall population consisted of people of lower socioeconomic status living within 500 m of a medium-frequency bus stop, whereas 60% of the population were of a high socioeconomic status and lived within 500 m of a medium-frequency bus stop. Conclusion Metropolitan Sydney has a transport system that is substantial and robust, and appears to offer relatively similar spatial accessibility for all socioeconomic groups. This system is an example of great urban planning, where the distribution of bus stops is evenly positioned in both high-density areas and areas of low socioeconomic status. What is known about the topic? Older adults and disadvantaged people suffer from higher levels of dental disease compared with the rest of the population. Older adults and disadvantaged people are more likely to rely on public transport to access healthcare services, including dental care. The Australian population is aging rapidly. What does this paper add? Although a previous study examined the accessibility to services via the train network, this is the first analysis of the spatial accessibility to dental services via the bus network in Sydney. Most older adults and disadvantaged people in Sydney enjoy acceptable spatial access to the public transport network, and thereby to dental practices. Urban planning, in terms of determining healthcare service locations and the public transport network, needs to consider the distribution of older adults and disadvantaged populations. What are the implications for practitioners? Practitioners are more likely to attract older adult patients to their practices or clinics if these are located within easy access to the public transport network.

scholarly journals Measurement Indicators of Age-Friendly Communities: Findings From the AARP Age-Friendly Community Survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 51-51
Author(s):  
Kyeongmo Kim ◽  
Tommy Buckley ◽  
Denise Burnette ◽  
Sunghwan Cho
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
The Social ◽  
Three Factor

Abstract Cities and counties worldwide have adopted the concept of “age-friendly communities” to promote the well-being of older adults. An age-friendly community is a place that provides a safe and affordable built environment and a social environment that encourages older adults’ participation. A major limitation in this field is the lack of valid and reliable measures of age-friendly communities. This study used data from the AARP 2016 Age-Friendly Community Surveys (N=3,652 adults ages 65 and older). This study included 57 indicators of age-friendliness (e.g., housing, transportation, public space, civic engagement, volunteering, community, and health services); socio-demographic characteristics; and health-related characteristics. We randomly split the sample into two subsamples for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n=1,682) and structural equation modeling (SEM) (n=1,682). The CFA resulted in a three-factor structure to measure age-friendly communities: built environment, transportation, and social environment. Model fit indices were acceptable (χ²(44)=14204.09; p<.001; RMSEA=.067; CFI=.912; TLI=.909; SRMR=.05). Internal reliability of the three-factor structure was excellent ranging from .93 to .96. The SEM model showed that older adults living in a community with a greater built environment (β=.119; p=.001) and the social environment (β=.199; p<.001) had higher levels of physical health, after adjusting for all other variables. The findings highlight that the measures of age-friendly communities are reliable and valid. Practitioners and policymakers should work on improving both the built and the social environment to promote the well-being of older adults. The findings also suggested that researchers can use the measures as an evaluation tool for an age-friendly community initiative.

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