Population Aging and Age-Friendly Transport in China

263 Pages·2023·6.423 MB·English

by  Pengjun Zhao, Jinxin Xie

Population, regional development and transport
Pengjun Zhao
Jinxin Xie
Population Aging
and Age-Friendly
Transport in China
Population, Regional Development
and Transport
Series Editor
Pengjun Zhao, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University,
Beijing, China
This book series chiefly explores population change, regional development and
transport in contemporary China. Its goal is to enhance our current understanding
of population, regional development and sustainable transport in a context of rapid
urbanization and transition – characterized by the shift from a centrally planned
system to a market system, together with growing economic globalization and
political decentralization.
The series will enrich the existing literature on population studies, regional devel-
opment studies and transport studies. In particular, it highlights academic research
on the interactions between population, regional development and transport. It will
also shed new light on government practices with regard to regional development
planning and management and transport investment.
·
Pengjun Zhao Jinxin Xie
Population Aging
and Age-Friendly Transport
in China
Pengjun Zhao Jinxin Xie
School of Urban Planning and Design College of Urban and Environmental
Peking University Shenzhen Graduate Sciences
School Peking University
Shenzhen, China Beijing, China
College of Urban and Environmental
Sciences
Peking University
Beijing, China
ISSN 2662-4613 ISSN 2662-4621 (electronic)
Population, Regional Development and Transport
ISBN 978-981-19-9242-1 ISBN 978-981-19-9243-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9243-8
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
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Preface
Population aging is a major change in global population, and age-friendly transport
needs to be considered. China is seeing a rapid growth of total population size and
the proportion of the old population. The aging of the population is not only bringing
a rapidly increasing old population, but also the increasing demands of older people.
Therefore, it has brought great challenges to urban construction and services, but
there has been little consideration of changing population structures and the needs
of individuals. One concern is the change that needs to be made for older people in
the field of transport, which plays an important role in social participation and daily
life. Age-friendly transport is needed for an age-friendly society and sustainable
development. However, compared to other issues, less attention has gone to the
travel needs of older people and age-friendly transport in China.
This book aims at making clear the travel needs and travel behavior of older people
in China, and it explores how to build an age-friendly transport system. It is the first
book to cover population aging in China, cover the travel needs and travel behavior of
China’s older people and talk about age-friendly transport in China. It determines the
general pattern of China’s older people by the combination of theoretical illustration
and empirical study.
Chapter 1 gives an introduction to this book. It first introduces the background of
the study, expounds its significance and makes clear the key issues.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of global aging. It analyzes the trend of world
population growth and aging, and it talks about many aspects of the challenges of
population aging.
Chapter 3 reviews the research progress on aging and transport. The research
progress is reviewed concerning the travel needs, travel behavior and factors affecting
older people, and finally age-friendly transport.
Chapter 4 reviews the progress on and problems with age-friendly transport poli-
cies in China. It lists related policies and problems with transport for older people,
focusing on the four aspects of barrier-free facilities, the walking system, public
transport and traffic safety.
Chapter 5 focuses on population aging in China. It describes the process and
current characteristics of population aging, uncovers the factors of population aging
v
vi Preface
and its social implications, and finally makes a projection of aging to predict the age
structure in China by 2050.
Chapter 6 uncovers the travel needs of older people in China. It summarizes the
travel needs of older people and the requirements for age-friendly transport services,
with the help of open data from different sampling surveys.
Chapter 7 shows the travel behavior of older people via the results of a travel
survey. Taking Beijing as an example, daily travel characteristics of older people are
identified, including travel frequency, travel purpose, travel mode, travel duration
and departure time.
Chapter 8 explores the factors in the travel behavior of older people. Based on
the data from Beijing in 2014, different regression models are applied to discover
the factors in travel frequency and travel pattern. The explanatory factors from the
four aspects of personal attributes, household attributes, built environment and travel
attributes are discussed.
Chapter 9 provides advice and framework on assessment of age-friendly trans-
port for China. According to the needs and travel behavior of China’s older people
and learning from international experience, this chapter puts forward a strategy for
building age-friendly transport in China. In addition, it provides a framework to guide
the construction, supervision and assessment of age-friendly transport.
Chapter 10 gives the conclusion for whole book and shows the outlook for the
development of age-friendly transport in China.
Presenting a comprehensive overview of the issue, this book is designed to help
general readers interested in population aging, the travel behavior of older people
and age-friendly transport in China. It gives a portrait of China’s older people’s travel
patterns, which may be helpful for the construction of age-friendly transport in China.
Beijing, China Pengjun Zhao
Jinxin Xie
Acknowledgments We acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (No. 42130402 and No. 41925003). The authors are responsible for all errors and
interpretations.
Contents
1 Introduction .................................................. 1
1.1 Research Background and Significance ....................... 1
1.1.1 Global Challenges of Aging to the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) .......................... 1
1.1.2 New Research Agenda for Age-Friendly Transport ....... 3
1.1.3 Challenges of Aging in China ......................... 4
1.1.4 Transport System in China ........................... 8
1.1.5 Significance of This Book ............................ 10
1.2 The Organisation of This Book .............................. 12
1.3 Method and Data .......................................... 13
1.3.1 Methods ........................................... 13
1.3.2 Data .............................................. 16
References .................................................... 19
2 Aging: A Global Challenge ..................................... 25
2.1 World Population Growth ................................... 25
2.1.1 Global Trends ...................................... 25
2.1.2 Regional Differences ................................ 26
2.2 Population Aging .......................................... 28
2.2.1 Global Trends ...................................... 28
2.2.2 Regional Differences ................................ 28
2.2.3 Urban Population Aging ............................. 32
2.2.4 Aging in Rural Areas ................................ 35
2.3 Challenges of Population Aging ............................. 36
2.3.1 Challenges in the Workforce and Economy ............. 36
2.3.2 Challenges in Public Finance and Social Security ........ 37
2.3.3 Challenges in Governance and Service ................. 37
2.4 Challenges in Transport Facilities and Service ................. 38
2.5 Conclusion ............................................... 39
References .................................................... 40
vii
viii Contents
3 Aging and Transport .......................................... 43
3.1 Travel Needs of Older People ............................... 43
3.1.1 Physiological Characteristics and Psychological
Needs ............................................. 43
3.1.2 Social Activities and Communication Needs ............ 44
3.1.3 Travel Needs ....................................... 45
3.2 Travel Behaviour and the Influencing Factors for Older
People ................................................... 46
3.2.1 Travel Frequency ................................... 46
3.2.2 Travel Purpose ..................................... 47
3.2.3 Travel Mode ....................................... 48
3.3 Age-Friendly Transport .................................... 52
3.3.1 Concept and Implication ............................. 52
3.3.2 Composition of Age-Friendly Transport ................ 54
3.3.3 Features ........................................... 55
3.4 Conclusion ............................................... 59
References .................................................... 60
4 Progress and Problems with Age-Friendly Transport Policies ...... 67
4.1 General Policies and Measures .............................. 67
4.2 Age-Friendly and Barrier-Free Transport ..................... 67
4.2.1 Existing Policies .................................... 73
4.2.2 Current Problems ................................... 76
4.2.3 Poor Quality of Design and Construction
for Barrier-Free Transport ............................ 77
4.3 Age-Friendly Walking System .............................. 80
4.3.1 Existing Policies .................................... 80
4.3.2 Current Problems ................................... 82
4.4 Age-Friendly Public Transport Systems ....................... 84
4.4.1 Existing Policies .................................... 84
4.4.2 Current Problems ................................... 86
4.5 Attention to the Traffic Safety of Older People ................. 89
4.5.1 Existing Policies .................................... 89
4.5.2 Current Problems ................................... 90
4.6 Conclusion ............................................... 92
References .................................................... 93
5 Aging in China ................................................ 95
5.1 Development of China’s Aging .............................. 95
5.1.1 Definition of Aging ................................. 95
5.1.2 China’s Population Growth ........................... 96
5.1.3 Process of China’s Aging ............................ 99
5.1.4 Spatial Differences in Aging .......................... 109
5.2 Factors of Aging in China .................................. 112
5.2.1 Family Planning Policy .............................. 112
5.2.2 Improvements in Medical Service ..................... 119
Contents ix
5.2.3 Change of Social Attitude ............................ 120
5.3 Social Impacts of Aging .................................... 124
5.3.1 Shortage of Labour .................................. 124
5.3.2 Changes in Consumer Demand ....................... 128
5.3.3 Increasing Social Burden ............................. 129
5.4 Trends in Aging ........................................... 133
5.4.1 Long-term Trend of Population Aging ................. 133
5.4.2 The UN’s Projection of China’s Aging Level ............ 135
5.4.3 Projection of Aging in China ......................... 137
5.5 Conclusion ............................................... 143
References .................................................... 143
6 Travel Needs of Older People ................................... 145
6.1 Travel Needs Generated by Activities Needs .................. 145
6.1.1 Demand for Participation and Communication .......... 145
6.1.2 Problems with Social Activities and Participation ........ 150
6.2 Transport Requirements Based on Physiological
Characteristics ............................................ 152
6.2.1 Physiological Characteristics ......................... 152
6.2.2 Age-Friendly Transport Requirements ................. 159
6.3 Conclusion ............................................... 163
References .................................................... 164
7 Travel Behaviour of Older People ............................... 167
7.1 Daily Travel Behaviour ..................................... 167
7.1.1 Travel Frequency ................................... 167
7.1.2 Travel Purpose ..................................... 171
7.1.3 Travel Mode ....................................... 173
7.1.4 Travel Duration ..................................... 174
7.1.5 Departure Time ..................................... 179
7.2 Changes in the Travel Characteristics of Older People .......... 181
7.2.1 Travel Frequency ................................... 181
7.2.2 Travel Purpose ..................................... 181
7.2.3 Travel Mode ....................................... 183
7.2.4 Travel Duration ..................................... 185
7.2.5 Departure Time ..................................... 186
7.3 Characteristics of Recreational Trips of Older People ........... 186
7.3.1 Travel Frequency ................................... 187
7.3.2 Travel Duration ..................................... 187
7.3.3 Travel Mode ....................................... 188
7.3.4 Departure Time ..................................... 188
7.4 Characteristics of Shopping Trips of Older People .............. 189
7.4.1 Travel Frequency ................................... 189
7.4.2 Travel Duration ..................................... 191
7.4.3 Travel Mode ....................................... 191
7.4.4 Departure Time ..................................... 192