The accessibility and satisfaction of the elderly to urban green space in the public rental housing in new towns : case study in New Territories, Hong Kong

Abstract

As a forecast by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD, 2023), by 2046, there will be over one in three people in Hong Kong being a member of the elderly. It has been well documented that urban green spaces are often sought by elderly people as a welcome refuge for both physical and psychological rejuvenation (Esther H.K, 2017). With the increasing 24% of elderly people living in public housing, the planning and design of green space has placed greater emphasis on the provision of healthy ageing-friendly outdoor environment. Therefore, accessibility of urban green space gradually become a major concern. However, most previous studies focused on traditional indicators such as walking distance, number and size green area, while ignoring that the actual walking speed and distance of the elderly group affected by changes in terrain slope will have an important impact on their use. In terms of research tools, most scholars only use GIS 3D network, and very few studies start from the perspective of elderly user groups to explore their satisfaction. To fill in the gap, this study hypothesizes that due to the physical characteristics of the elderly population and the mountainous terrain of the New Territories, elderly residents living in public rental housing may experience limited accessibility to green spaces. To test the hypothesize, the study will be conducted to evaluate the use of urban green space by the elderly in Hong Kong (1) Conducting questionnaire surveys on middle-aged and elderly group, to comparatively analyse the impact of accessibility on the satisfaction. (2) In-deep interviews with elderly users to explore elderly people’s satisfaction with using public green spaces. (3) Use 3D networks to model the urban green spaces available to the elderly in public housing and conduct accessibility analysis considering the slope of the terrain and the walking speed of the elderly. The results found that most elderly people have a relatively high level of accessibility and overall satisfaction with existing green spaces, but there is still room for improvement in the planning, design and maintenance of green spaces.