城市空间易行性及其对老年友好城市建设的启示:以香港为例

城市空间易行性是建设老年人友好城市必须考虑的环境指标。易行空间促进步行和体能活动,对老年人的身心健康有益。本文选取居住区密度、道路联通性和用地混合性三个指标测度香港城市空间的易行性,发现城市中心区(港岛和九龙)的空间易行性明显高于新界。相关性分析指出易行性与人口密度和第三产业就业率存在正相关,与家庭收入和地块面积存在负相关。通过专家访谈,本文分析了不同空间易行性背后的规划思路。早期城市规划推崇的小地块发展模式使中心区地块面积细碎、街道狭小,促进了居住密度和用地混合度,这是造成易行性高的主要原因。然而,这同时造成了环境污染和公共卫生隐患,对老年人身心健康不利。文章指出,未来城市规划要在地块划分的面积与多样性之间求得平衡。定量测度需结合其他研究方法探讨完善步行空间、提高宜居性与老年人幸福感的对策。

Walkability and Its Implications for Planning Age-friendly Cities:Evidence from Hong Kong

For high density urban areas,promoting walkability is conducive to enhancing age-friendliness of cities and communities.Walkable environment enhances the levels of physical activities,which will finally improve physical and mental health of older people.This paper measures walkability scores for the whole territories of Hong Kong,based on residential density,street connectivity,and land-use mix.Results indicate that downtown areas(i.e.,Hong Kong Island and Kowloon)have higher walkability scores than New Territories.Area-based walkability is positively associated with population density and employment rate in tertiary sectors,and is negatively associated with household income and size of the land.Interview with planning professionals suggests that different planning paradigms in downtown and New Territories give rise to various levels of walkability.Land lots are smaller,and the streets are narrower in old urban areas,which promote human and commercial activities.However,the highly congregated development mode has negative impacts on the public health.Future development shall seek a balance between plot size and diversity in the zoning process.Quantitative methods should be enriched by other methods to propose strategies oriented to the enhancement of elderly livability and well-being.