Evaluation Study on the Layout of Community Senior Living Facilities in the Main Area of Shanghai from the Perspective of Senior Life Circle

Abstract

The senior life circle is the basic unit space for building a high quality of senior living in the city, and the service level of the community senior facilities within it is directly related to the daily quality of life of the elderly residents. From the perspective of daily life needs, this study constructs a community senior living facility system consisting of “three levels, six categories and fourteen items”. Taking the main urban area of Shanghai as an example, the relationship between the supply and demand of community senior facilities and senior residents is studied from two perspectives: facility coverage and facility accessibility. The results show that: (1) the community senior living facilities system needs to be improved; (2) there are large gaps in the configuration of care facilities and living facilities; (3) the number of facilities served per capita shows the characteristics of “high value concentration in the center, middle value concentration in the transition area, and peripheral mixed”. The study recommends improving the construction of the facility system, broadening the service supply channels, enhancing the accessibility of facilities by grading and zoning, and promoting the sharing of facilities across administrative boundaries.

1. Introduction

At the end of 2022, there were 5.536 million people over 60 years old registered in Shanghai, with an aging rate of 36.8% (the percentage of senior people over 60 years old to the total number of people) (Population data obtained from Statistics on Demographics and Programs of Senior Citizens in Shanghai in 2022). Some studies even suggest that the period from 2020 to mid-century will be the fastest growing period of aging in China [1]. The senior population is increasing in size, indicating a trend of advanced aging, incapacity and empty nesting. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for specialized and diverse socialized senior facilities. However, due to the late start of construction and insufficient reserved space, the senior facilities in Shanghai are unable to meet the demand. Residents, particularly those over 60 years of age, are not very satisfied with senior care institutions, highlighting the strong demand for senior care facilities from the elderly population [2]. In the context of profound aging, community home care remains the primary mode of senior care in China [3]. Promoting the full coverage, systematization and balanced layout of community senior service facilities has become a challenge [4].

The senior care pattern in Shanghai has evolved from the “9073” model (90% in home, 7% in the community, 3% in social care facilities) to the “Five-in-one” (supply, security, policy, demand, supervision) social senior care service system, and then to the “Embedded Senior Care” and “15-min Senior Service Circle” in the community. The concept of “Human-centered City” has driven the construction of senior care facilities in Shanghai from a top-down target to the grading and configuration of senior care facilities based on the needs of the seniors in their daily lives. The theory of “community life circle” has matured in China and is widely applied in urban planning practice. For example, the Urban Residential Area Planning and Design Standards issued in 2018 proposed facility configuration suggestions for the “5–10–15-min” community life circle. The concept of the senior life circle considers both the travel patterns of seniors and the service capacity of facilities and reflects the specific needs of the aging population for community senior service facilities in the spatial circle relationship [5]. It is an important basis for constructing the community senior home care service facility system.

In this study, community public service facilities for seniors at home (community senior living facilities) are defined as public service facilities at the community level that provide senior residents with a range of services, including elderly care, medical care, health care, cultural and sports, travel, shopping and other activities. The primary goal of these facilities is to meet the needs of seniors who prefer to “age at home”. These facilities play a crucial role in ensuring a high quality of life for senior individuals.

Domestic and international research on the layout of senior living facilities focuses on two aspects. On the one hand, there are studies on the types and scales of senior living facilities. Wei et al. (2022) conducted social surveys and regression analysis to determine the thresholds for service, care, and leisure facilities for seniors [6]. Yu et al. (2016) categorized home-based senior service facilities into three groups: medical care and health care, daily life assistance, social engagement and spiritual comfort. They also provided suggestions regarding the hierarchy and configuration of related facilities [7]. Based on the demand structure of the senior, Cheng et al. (2021) developed a community senior service network known as “senior facilities +” and a “5–15-min” senior facility configuration circle and proposed a new model of integrating institutional senior care, community senior care and home senior care [8].

On the other hand, studies on the fairness of the spatial layout in senior living facilities are mostly from the perspective of supply and demand, with a focus on facility accessibility. Common spatial accessibility evaluation methods include the proportional method, the shortest distance method [9], the potential model method [10], and the moving search method [11]. Among these methods, the two-step moving search method integrates the facility supply level, demand level and distance decay effect, providing a more comprehensive assessment of service accessibility at the residential locations within the study area. It effectively reflects the convenience of accessing a service and is commonly utilized in the research on the accessibility of senior living facilities.

Previous layout studies have concentrated on the layout of institutional senior care facilities [12,13,14], but less on community senior care facilities, and mostly focus on a single facility type [15], lacking an overall consideration of the accessibility of the senior care facility system.

This study focuses on the main urban area of Shanghai and aims to systematically categorize and establish service thresholds of community senior living facilities, and constructs a system which includes “three levels, six categories and fourteen items”. Taking the residential points in the main urban area of Shanghai as the research object, the evaluation index system of community senior facilities layout is based on two dimensions: facility coverage and facility accessibility. It visually represents the spatial distribution characteristics of the supply–demand relationship of community senior facilities and provides reference and detailed guidelines for the relevant plan.

2. Community Senior Living Facility System in Shanghai

The “Shanghai Special Plan for the Layout of Senior Care Service Facilities (2021–2035)” proposes to make efforts to ensure full coverage of the 15-min life circle for basic senior care services. However, there are still problems, such as imperfect systems, incomplete types and unclear configuration standards in the existing community senior public service facilities system in Shanghai. For example, the circle structure of the community senior living circle is not clear. At the end of 2021, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the “Guidelines for Construction of Complete Residential Communities”, which proposed a ten-minute senior service circle. However, the “Shanghai 15-min Community Living Cycle Planning Guidelines (for Trial Implementation)” proposes a 15-min—10-min—5-min senior service circle. Facilities such as medical insurance pharmacies, commercial, and transportation are not taken into consideration and cannot meet all the daily needs of the elderly. Facilities such as senior-care homes and day-care centers have different configuration standards in different planning documents. The service radius of senior day-care center is 500 min the “Technical Guidelines for Detailed Control Planning in Shanghai” and 300 m in the “Shanghai 15-min Community Living Cycle Planning Guidelines (for Trial Implementation)”. Most of the facility configuration standards rely on administrative units such as streets; and the concept of the senior life circle is not fully integrated into the existing system.

Seniors typically engage in travel for various purposes, such as daily shopping, cultural leisure, entertainment and exercise, and medical needs, with walking and public transportation as their preferred modes. Their activities typically occur within a fixed range, reflecting the tendency to stay close to their home [16]. Considering the specific demand characteristics of seniors, this study divided community senior facilities into six categories: medical facilities, care facilities, commercial facilities, living facilities, transportation facilities, and cultural and sports facilities.

From the perspective of the senior life circle, taking the travel characteristics of the senior and the relevant normative requirements into account, the above facilities have been assigned to different senior life circle: 5-min, 10-min, and 15-min (

Table 1. Community senior living facilities.

Level	Facility Type	Facility	Service Radius	Service Content
15-min service circle (800 m)	Medical facility	Community Health Center	1000 m ①	Provide prevention, medical treatment, health care, rehabilitation, health education, family planning, etc.
		Medical Insurance Designated Pharmacy	-	Provide services such as drug purchasing
		Nursing Stations ⑦	-	Provide services for patients who need long-term care
	Care facility	Senior Care Home	1000 m ②	Short-term, full-care intensive care services
	Commercial facility	Supermarkets	500 m	Provide shopping, grocery shopping and other services
	Living facility	Senior Service Organizations	-	Provide housekeeping, travel, financial and legal advice
	Cultural and sports facility	Activity Centers	1000 m	Book reading, film, science and art activities
		Park/Square	-	Provide leisure activities
10-min service circle (500 m)	Commercial facility	Food Market	500 m ③	Provide shopping, grocery shopping and other services
	Transport facility	Transportation Stations	500 m ④	Provide travel services
5-min service circle (300 m)	Care facility	Day Care Center	500 m ①④ 300 m ⑤⑥	Provide day care services for the senior such as nursing care, rehabilitation assistance, spiritual comfort, culture and entertainment, community transportation and other day care services for the elderly in the community
	Living facility	Community Canteens	500 m ③ 300 m ①	Provide meal service for community residents, especially the seniors
	Commercial facility	Community Commercial	300 m ③	Provide shopping, grocery shopping and other services
	Cultural and sports facility	Senior Activity Room	300 m ⑤	Book and newspaper reading, painting and calligraphy, recreation, cafe, etc.

Sources of service radius: ① “Urban Residential Area Planning and Design Standards” GB50180-2018; ② “Shanghai Special Plan for the Layout of Elderly Facilities (2013–2020)” stipulates that the service radius of community senior facilities be no greater than 1000 m; ③ “Technical Guidelines for Community Living Cycle Planning” TDT 1062-2021; ④ “Shanghai 15-min Community Living Cycle Planning Guidelines (for Trial Implementation); ⑤ “Technical Guidelines for Detailed Control Planning in Shanghai”; ⑥ “Planning Code for Urban Facilities for the Senior” GB 50437-2007 (2018 version); ⑦ According to the Basic Standards for Nursing Stations (2011 Edition), nursing stations are medical institutions that provide medical care, rehabilitation promotion, hospice care and other services for patients who need long-term care services, especially seniors.

). Following the “Shanghai 15-min Community Living Area Planning Guidelines”, considering the weak travel ability of the senior, the walkable distances of 15-min, 10-min and 5-min community senior service circles have been set to 800 m, 500 m and 300 m, respectively.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Overview of Study Area

The main urban area of Shanghai contains 10 districts and 120 streets (Figure 1). Approximately 17.4% of the total area accommodates around 63.7% of the population. Due to the earlier development and the relatively comprehensive layout of public service facilities in the main urban area, there is a spatial clustering of the senior population and facilities. This makes the main urban area face a greater contradiction between supply and demand of public service facilities for community-based senior care, and the study conducted for it is somewhat representative. At the same time, higher data acquisition and accuracy in the main area make the study results more reliable.

3.2. Data Acquisition and Pre-Processing

The data regarding residential points in the main urban area were obtained from the official website of Homelink (data collection time is April 2022). After conducting data cleaning, deduplicating, and removing erroneous values, a total of 12,122 data points were retained. These data points contain relevant information such as addresses, geographical coordinates and the number of households. The senior population data were obtained by multiplying the number of households in each residential district by the average household population in Shanghai (2.63 persons per household), and the aging rate of the corresponding administrative district [17]. This approach was verified to be feasible and produced results that closely aligned with the actual senior population data in the region.

The data on community senior living facilities in the main urban area of Shanghai (

Table 2. Data obtained for this study.

Facility Type	Facility	Data Source	Data Volume (pcs)
Residential	Residential area	Homelink	12,122
Medical facility	Community Health Center	Shanghai Health Care Commission	742
	Medical Insurance Designated Pharmacy	Shanghai Medical Insurance Bureau	1503
	Nursing Stations	Senior Care Website	244
Care facility	Senior Care Home	Senior Care Website	168
	Day Care Center	Senior Care Website	600
Commercial facility	Supermarkets	Amap	5968
	Food Market	Amap	11,762
	Community Commercial	Amap	12,974
Living facility	Senior Service Organizations	Senior Care Website	245
	Community Canteens	Senior Care Website	1537
Transport facility	Transportation Stations	Amap	11,666
Cultural and sports facility	Activity Centers	Amap	1585
	Park/Square	Amap	1675
	Senior Activity Room	Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau	5643

) were obtained through government websites, AutoNavi map (Amap) and senior care website (https://shyl.mzj.sh.gov.cn, accessed on 20 March 2022). In order to build a certain buffer zone, the collection range of the facility data was the whole area of Shanghai.

3.3. Research Methods

3.3.1. Three Methods of Delineating the Scope of the Life Circle

The delineation of the life circle range for residential communities can be achieved using three methods: straight-line distance, path distance, and navigation distance (Figure 2).

Straight-line distances are simple and convenient, allowing for a quick evaluation of whether facilities meet the needs of residents. This method utilizes ArcGIS’ buffer analysis. However, it disregards the influence of the urban road network, deviating from the actual situation, and is more suitable for preliminary calculations. The path distance is a daily travel circle for residents delineated based on the city’s road network, utilizing ArcGIS network analysis tools. The accuracy of the results depends on the level of road network subdivision and completeness, requiring high accuracy in acquiring road network data. The navigation distance method involves calling the Amap walking navigation interface data with the help of Python 3.8. This method takes into account factors such as the road network smoothness, intersection waiting time and others, providing a more accurate description of distance. The result of the life circle range derived from the navigation distance is the most precise. For this study, the navigation distance method is adopted as the calculation method for the life circle range. However, its steps are complex and there are limitations in terms of the interface usage (5000 times per day). In order to expedite the calculation period, this study focuses solely on determining the distance between established settlements and the corresponding facility. The mapping of the living circle range is not performed.

3.3.2. Community Senior Living Facility Coverage

Facility coverage measures the convenience of a residential point to a community senior service facility and it is primarily determined by the distance between the residential point and the facility. When a residential site falls within the service radius of a certain type of community senior living facility, it is considered that the residential site can be served. Specifically, the facility coverage rate is the ratio of the number of residential points within a street unit that have access to community senior living facilities to the total number [18].

$${CR}_i=\frac{{\sum }_{j=1}^{m}f\left(D_{ij}\right)}{m}$$

(1)

$$f\left(D_{ij}\right)=\left\{\begin{array}{c}1, D_{ij}\le d_0\\ 0,D_{ij}>d_0\end{array}\right.$$

(2)

${CR}_i$ represents the street coverage rate; $D_{ij}$ represents the distance from a residential point to the nearest community senior living facility of a certain type; $d_0$ represents the service radius of that type of community senior living facility; $m$ represents the number of residential points contained in that street.

3.3.3. Community Senior Living Facility Accessibility

A two-step moving search method (2SFCA) was chosen to measure the spatial accessibility of community senior care facilities in the main urban area of Shanghai and to visualize their spatial distribution. This method takes into account the impact of distance on accessibility and provides a more realistic assessment. In traditional 2SFCA, it assumes that a facility is equally accessible to all demand points within its service radius. However, in reality, the distance to the community senior care facilities affects the likelihood of seniors utilizing those facilities. As the distance increases, the accessibility level of community senior care facilities tends to decrease.

This study introduces several improvements to the traditional two-step moving search method: (a) Distance decay function. Gaussian function is introduced as a distance decay function to simulate the spatial impedance of facility service capacity. (b) Walking route planning. This study utilizes the walking route planning in Amap API to determine the distance between residential and facility points, and the distance description of supply and demand points is closer to reality. (c) Establishment of three levels of search radius considering the difference in service capacity of facilities.

In the first step, the threshold value is determined by focusing on community senior living facilities j, searching for residential points within the threshold value, and calculating the ratio of supply to demand for the service capacity of community senior living facilities.

$$R_j=\frac{S_j}{{\sum }_{i\in \left\{d_{kj}\le d_0\right\}}{D}_{k}G\left(d_{kj}\right)}$$

(3)

$$G\left(d_{ij}\right)=\frac{e^{-\frac{1}{2}\times {\left(\frac{d_{ij}}{d_0}\right)}^2}-e^{-\frac{1}{2}}}{1-e^{-\frac{1}{2}}}\left(d_{ij}\le d_0\right)$$

(4)

In the formula, $R_j$ is the supply–demand ratio of the service capacity of community senior living facilities; $S_j$ is the supply capacity, calculated with the participation of the value 1; $D_i$ is the scale of demand for community senior living facilities at residential point, calculated with the participation of the number of the senior population; $d_{jk}$ is the navigation distance between residential point and community senior living facilities; $d_0$ is the search radius, and $G\left(d_{ij}\right)$ is the distance decay function within the search radius.

The second step focuses on resident $i$, searches for community senior facilities j within the corresponding radius, and sums up the service capacity supply and demand ratio $R_j$ to obtain the accessibility of resident $i$:

$$A_i={\displaystyle \sum }_{i\in \left\{d_{ij}\le d_0\right\}}{R}_j\times G\left(d_{ij}\right)\times \mathrm{10,000}$$

(5)

The physical dimension of accessibility is the number of facilities served per 10,000 seniors. In the formula, $A_i$ is the spatial accessibility of the resident. Higher values indicate higher accessibility of community senior facilities in that settlement, and vice versa.

3.3.4. Community Senior Living Facility Integrated Accessibility

By utilizing the CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) objective assignment method improved by Wang Wei et al. [19], the weight of each type of facility (

Table 3. Weight of the community senior living facilities.

Facility Type	Weight (W)	Facility	Weight (W1)	Weight within Type (W2)
Medical facility	0.2829	Community Health Center	0.0872	0.3082
		Medical Insurance Designated Pharmacy	0.0955	0.3376
		Nursing Stations	0.1002	0.3542
Care facility	0.1147	Senior Care Home	0.0394	0.3463
		Day Care Center	0.0754	0.6537
Commercial facility	0.2132	Supermarkets	0.0994	0.4660
		Food Market	0.0535	0.2508
		Community Commercial	0.0604	0.2832
Living facility	0.0993	Senior Service Organizations	0.0378	0.3802
		Community Canteens	0.0616	0.6198
Transport facility	0.0657	Transportation Stations	0.0657	1.0000
Cultural and sports facility	0.2240	Activity Centers	0.0726	0.3240
		Park/Square	0.0777	0.3466
		Senior Activity Room	0.0738	0.3294

) can be obtained based on the kernel density values of various types of community senior facilities (Figure 3), and SPSS analysis.

The accessibility of each type of facility in each residential site is weighted to obtain the integrated accessibility of community senior living facilities. In the following formula, $S_i$ is the integrated accessibility of community senior facilities of residential point, and $W_n$ is the weighting value of the $n$th category of facilities.

$$S_i={\displaystyle \sum }_{n=1}^m\left(A_{in},\times ,W_n\right)$$

(6)

4. Results

4.1. Community Senior Living Facility Coverage

To visually represent the differences in facility coverage, this study divided the facility coverage into five categories, namely (0–30%], (30–60%], (60–80%], (80–90%], and (90–100%].

In terms of overall coverage (Figure 4), there is a wide variation in the coverage of various types of community senior care facilities. For example, 97.52% of seniors in residential sites have access to supermarkets within a 15-min walk, while only 9.56% of seniors in residential sites have access to day care centers.

In terms of the coverage of facilities on each street, there is still a large gap in the configuration of community senior care facilities. Several types of facilities, including nursing stations, senior care homes, day care centers, senior service organizations and community canteens, have coverage rates mostly below 60%, which has not yet achieved the configuration goal of full coverage of urban public service facilities and requires further supplementation and improvement. At the same time, the relatively high level of configuration of facilities still exists in some low-value areas, which need targeted optimization and upgrading to better align with the needs of the seniors. Furthermore, facilities such as community health service centers, senior activity rooms, transportation stations, and activity centers exhibit very low coverage rates, with less than 20% of the streets having access.

The configuration level of the six types of community senior facilities varies (Figure 5), with the most significant gap observed in the configuration of care facilities and living facilities. Facilities in the commercial category, such as supermarkets, food markets and community commercial are regulated by market forces and tend to have a higher degree of freedom and relatively good configuration. Transportation facilities, being essential road infrastructure in the city, exhibit a higher and more balanced configuration level. Living facilities and care facilities, which have a certain degree of public welfare, started their development relatively late, resulting in a significant lag in the coverage of these facilities. Specifically, senior care homes, day care centers, senior service organizations, and community canteens have coverage rates of less than 30% in 77, 117, 71, and 91 streets, respectively.

From a spatial balance perspective, there is unevenness in the street coverage of all six types of community senior facilities. The areas with high levels of facility configuration are concentrated in the central city, while the main city area exhibits gaps in facility configuration. The coverage of facilities in the Puxi area is relatively high compared to the Pudong area. For instance, eight of the 10 streets with the lowest coverage of commercial facilities are located in Pudong. This difference can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the plot structure in the Puxi area consists of smaller neighborhoods and a dense road network, resulting in shorter distances from residential points to facilities. In contrast, the Pudong area has more extensive settlements, and the distance from these settlements to facilities is generally greater. Secondly, the development of Pudong occurred later than Puxi, and as a result, the configuration of basic service facilities is still in progress.

If taking the facility coverage rate of 80% as the attainment line for facility configuration (Figure 6), no street has achieved full coverage of community senior facilities. The best performing street in terms of coverage of the fourteen types of facilities is Bund Street in Huangpu District, with six facilities having 100% coverage and ten facilities having 80% or higher. The worst-performing street is Jinqiao Town in Pudong New Area, with 10 facilities having less than 30% coverage and one facility having more than 80% coverage.

4.2. Community Senior Living Facility Accessibility

Spatial accessibility of facilities describes the level of access to different types of facility services for the senior population and is influenced by the synergy of the senior population and the number of facilities. In order to evaluate the spatial accessibility of various facilities more intuitively, this study classified accessibility into four categories by taking the current average number of facilities served per 10,000 seniors of various facilities in Shanghai as the minimum standard line, twice the minimum standard line as the passing line, and three times the minimum standard line as the excellent line (

Table 4. Segmentation standard for facilities accessibility of residential.

Facility Type	Facility	Minimum Standard Line	Passing Line	Excellent Line
Medical facility	Community Health Center	0.7903	1.5806	2.3710
	Medical Insurance Designated Pharmacy	3.7120	7.4241	11.1361
	Nursing Stations	0.6026	1.2052	1.8079
Care facility	Senior Care Home	0.4149	0.8298	1.2448
	Day Care Center	1.4818	2.9637	4.4455
Commercial facility	Supermarkets	14.7394	29.4789	44.2183
	Food Market	29.0491	58.0983	87.1474
	Community Commercial	32.0425	64.0850	96.1274
Living facility	Senior Service Organizations	0.6051	1.2102	1.8153
	Community Canteens	3.7960	7.5920	11.3880
Transport facility	Transportation Stations	28.8121	57.6241	86.4362
Cultural and sports facility	Activity Centers	3.9145	7.8291	11.7436
	Park/Square	4.1368	8.2736	12.4105
	Senior Activity Room	13.9368	27.8735	41.8103

Note: unit: pcs/10,000 senior people.

).

From the perspective of accessibility delineation criteria, the accessibility classification criteria for various types of facilities vary widely. The city’s average number of facilities per 10,000 seniors of medical facilities, care facilities and living facilities is 1~3, cultural and sports facilities is 7.29, and commercial facilities and transportation facilities is the highest, with over 20. Thus, some residential sites are affected by the small senior population, and the values of facility accessibility vary widely. The lowest accessibility is 0 and the highest is 2404 Xiuyan Road, Kangqiao Town, Pudong New Area, where the accessibility to transportation sites is 50,002 per 10,000 senior people; that is, each senior can access the services of five transportation sites.

The results of the accessibility classification (Figure 7) indicate that more than 52% of the residential sites have facilities with accessibility below the city average, except for community health centers. Day care centers and community canteens perform the worst, with 91% and 81% of residential sites having facilities below the city average. However, it is important to interpret the numerical results of accessibility in conjunction with the classification criteria. Facilities such as transportation facilities and commercial facilities, which have a high per capita ownership in the city, may have a large proportion of facilities with accessibility lower than the city average. This does not indicate an allocation gap for such facilities. Instead, the focus should be on facilities that have lower classification standards and a larger proportion of poorly accessible areas, such as care facilities and living facilities. These facilities require increased allocation and improvement to enhance the accessibility for the senior population.

According to the distribution of accessibility for the six types of community senior facilities (Figure 8), the spatial configuration is uneven, with higher accessibility in the central city and gradually decreasing outward. Most of the high-value areas of spatial accessibility of community senior living facilities are clustered in the central urban area, including streets such as Bund Street, Nanjing East Road Street, Ruijin Second Road Street, Huaihai Middle Road Street, and Yuyuan Street in Huangpu District, with the most obvious care facilities and living facilities. Commercial facilities, transportation facilities, and cultural and sports facilities also found high values in Qibao Town and Xinzhuang Town in Minhang District, in addition to the central urban area. The high-value areas of medical facilities are more scattered, with no obvious clusters. Some streets in the central city still contain residential locations with low accessibility, and the spatial configuration is more balanced. Overall, the accessibility of facilities in Pudong is still at a low level, with fewer high-value points of accessibility for care facilities, commercial facilities, and living facilities.

4.3. Integrated Accessibility

According to the accessibility of fourteen types of facilities and facility weights, the integrated accessibility of community senior living facilities in each residential site can be obtained. Integrated accessibility reflects the configuration level of community senior living facilities in the main urban area of Shanghai, with higher values indicating a higher number of facilities served per 10,000 seniors.

From the perspective of integrated accessibility values in residential areas, there is a large difference between high and low values, with more areas having low value (

Table 5. Ranking of the percentage of settlements in the main area of Shanghai with integrated accessibility higher than the city average.

Rank	Street	District	Percentage of Accessibility above the City Average	Rank	Street	District	Percentage of Accessibility above the City Average
1	the Bund Street	Huangpu District	100.00%	116	Pengpu Xincun Street	Jing’an District	13.95%
2	Huaihai Middle Road Street	Huangpu District	99.12%	117	Kangjian Xincun Street	Xuhui District	12.50%
3	Ruijin Second Road Street	Huangpu District	98.48%	118	Kongjiang Road Street	Yangpu District	10.89%
4	Nanjing East Road Street	Huangpu District	97.84%	119	Ganquan Road Street	Putuo District	9.76%
5	Nanjing West Road Street	Jing’an District	96.85%	120	Siping Road Street	Yangpu District	4.40%

). The highest integrated accessibility value is observed in Bund Street, Huangpu District. The worst performance is seen in Siping Road Street, Yangpu District, where only 4.4% of the integrated accessibility of residential facilities is higher than the city average. Regarding the distribution of these values, only 31 streets have more than 60% of the integrated accessibility of residential points above the city average, while the remaining 89 streets have values below the city average.

According to the accessibility distribution map (Figure 9), the high accessibility areas of Shanghai’s main areas show the distribution characteristics of “high value concentration in the center, middle value concentration in the transition area, and peripheral mixed”. Combining the kernel density map of the senior population and the distribution of facilities in the main urban area, it becomes apparent that the accessibility of facilities is influenced by the interplay between the concentration of the senior population and the distribution of facilities (Figure 10).

(1)

The central area has a small distribution of senior population, but more community senior facilities, with high value of accessibility clustering and more facilities providing services per capita. This area mainly contains the Bund Street, Nanjing East Road Street, Ruijin Second Road Street, Huaihai Middle Road Street, Yuyuan Street, Nanjing West Road Street, Jing’an District, and Sichuan North Road Street, Hongkou District.

(2)

The transition area has a large senior population and more community senior facilities. However, the accessibility is generally low, and the number of facilities providing services per capita is less, so the contradiction between supply and demand is prominent. This area mainly includes the streets of Half Song Yuan Road, Wuliqiao Street and Dapuqiao Street in Huangpu District, the northern part of Xuhui District, the eastern part of Changning District, the southern part of Jing’an District, the southern part of Hongkou District and the southern part of Yangpu District.

(3)

The peripheral area has a small distribution of senior population and community senior facilities, and the accessibility results show a mixture of high and low values, with a small number of high-value points prevailing in each street. This area mainly contains the remaining areas of the central city, Minhang District, Pudong New Area, and Baoshan District.

4.4. Impact of Living Circle Delineation Method on Facility Accessibility

Senior care homes have imbalanced supply and demand, significant gaps in configuration, and they mainly serve residents in the same street. In order to further evaluate the impact of the living circle delineation method on the evaluation of facility layout, this study selected senior care homes as the study target to compared the differences in facility accessibility under three different delineation methods:

(a)

Delineation based on straight-line distance;

(b)

Delineation based on navigational distance;

(c)

Serving only senior residents in the street based on navigational distance.

Segmenting the accessibility results reveals that the accessibility results for facilities under the three delineation methods decrease sequentially, and the number of facilities providing services per capita of senior care homes in residential areas below citywide levels increases sequentially (Figure 11). The use of navigational distance provides a more accurate description of facility supply and demand. Moreover, the results based on navigational distance reveal 14% more settlements with poor accessibility compared to the results based on linear distance. Furthermore, promoting the service of facilities across administrative boundaries can effectively enhance the supply level of facilities. When facilities are limited to serve only residents within the street based on navigational distance, the number of poorly accessible settlements increases by 7%.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Conclusions

The balanced allocation of community senior living facilities is an important guarantee for the daily life of the aging population and is the result of the combined effect of various factors, such as residential locations, facility types, facility distribution, transportation networks and policies. Therefore, based on GIS spatial analysis technology, the senior life circle theory and multi-source urban data, this study draws the following conclusions regarding the coverage and accessibility of community senior living facilities in the main urban area of Shanghai.

(a)

On the mesoscopic street scale, the coverage rate of community senior facilities in the main urban area of Shanghai is insufficient, and there are blind spots in facility coverage. None of the 14 types of community senior facilities has achieved full coverage. Specifically, the coverage rate of day care center and community canteen is less than 30%, indicating a significant gap with the goal of achieving full coverage within the 15-min senior life circle proposed in Shanghai’s aging career development plan. Moreover, the central city exhibits higher coverage rates for the 14 facilities compared to the main city area, indicating an uneven regional distribution of facilities.

(b)

At the microscopic settlement scale, there is spatial inequity in the allocation of facilities and a disparity exists between pedestrian accessibility and planning goals. Except for community health service centers, more than 60% of residential sites have a lower level of community senior facility supply compared to the city average. Specifically, day care centers and community canteens fall below the city average in 91% and 81% of residential sites. Additionally, the spatial distribution of facilities demonstrates inequitable patterns, with the distribution characteristics of “high value concentration in the center, middle value concentration in the transition area, and peripheral mixed”. Moreover, there are noticeable spatial differences in the numbers of facilities providing services per capita.

5.2. Discussion

In response to the problems in the current facility layout, the reasons for this are as follows:

The first is that the concept and planning practice of the aging life circle are not closely integrated. The current policy documents lack regulations on the types of facilities, construction modes and allocation indicators that should be included in the 15-min senior service circle, resulting in district-level governments or streets focusing on the construction of single units such as senior care homes in the implementation process, which is not conducive to the formation of senior service networks.

The second is that the community senior facilities system is not yet complete. The existing community senior configuration standards have a series of problems, such as overlapping contents, contradictory service thresholds of facilities, and missing standards. The lack of consistent, normative documents that unite multiple sectors tends to cause inequitable and inefficient distribution of public resources.

The third is the inadequate supply of community senior service resources. On the one hand, there is an increasing demand for socialized senior services. On the other hand, the planning in the senior stage of urban construction did not consider enough the layout of senior service resources, and it was difficult to transform the stock in the central city [20]. This all hinders the expansion of the supply of urban senior service resources.

Rational allocation of spatial resources is the primary development goal of senior care facility planning [21], and in order to promote a more balanced layout of community senior care facilities, efforts can be made in the following ways:

(a)

Change the concept of construction and improve the system of community senior facilities. By integrating the concept of the senior life circle with urban planning practices, there should be a shift towards a people-oriented and needs-based approach to facility allocation. Promote cross-sectoral cooperation and streamline existing regulatory documents to form a unified and normative proposal for facility configuration. With reference to the guidelines for the construction of the 15-min life circle, the public service facility system for the senior at home in the community of “three-level life circle, six types of functions and 14 public service facilities” is formulated to provide policy guidelines for the planning and layout of the facilities.

(b)

Combine adjustment and optimization to improve the layout of community senior facilities. In view of the problems in the layout of community senior facilities in the main urban area of Shanghai, we can classify and refine “one district, one policy” and develop strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of senior services.

Calculating the percentage of settlements with numbers of facilities providing services per 10,000 seniors in each street above the city average, the study area can be distinguished into three types (Figure 12): undersupply, average supply, and high level of supply. The high level of supply refers to the 23 streets with the percentage of facility accessibility above city average more than 66.8%, and the area should focus on the quality and efficiency of existing facilities. Average supply is generally defined as the 35 streets with the percentage of facility accessibility above city average between 36.9% and 66.7%. The area has a high level of facilities per capita, and future construction will depend on the specifics of the settlement to decide whether to build additional facilities. The undersupply refers to the 62 streets with the percantage of facility accessibility above city average less than 36.8%, accounting for more than 50% of the study area. This area is a key area for improving the construction, and the construction of community senior facilities should be increased to achieve an increase in scale and number.

(c)

Expand service contents and promote sharing of facilities across administrative boundaries. Enhance the supply capacity of senior care services through multi-channels and multi-modality.

It is difficult to make up for the gap in the supply of senior care services by relying on government planning alone. Moreover, it is necessary to innovate the supply mode of senior care services and expand the scale of supply of senior care services, for example, by promoting cooperation between senior care institutions and the community, using the professional service capacity of senior care institutions to provide daily services and monitoring for the senior who ages at home. Through the contract between the community and the take-out platform, communities could provide “take-out” meal service for the senior. The introduction of home smart monitoring devices allows communities and children to achieve rapid response to the needs of the senior. At the same time, promoting the sharing of facilities across administrative boundaries and regions can effectively improve the service capacity of the facilities and ease the pressure on urban senior care; for example, promoting cross-regional access to community health service centers to disperse the pressure of access to medicine in areas with a concentrated senior population.

It is important to note that we are in a post-epidemic era where online virtual services such as food markets, supermarkets, and pharmacies have partially changed the lifestyles of seniors. While some of the younger seniors are proficient in using shopping software to receive virtual services, community-based senior care facilities remain a necessity to ensure a high quality of life for seniors. At the same time, virtual services need to rely on existing infrastructure to be carried out. For example, online supermarkets have only expanded the service range of supermarkets, expanding the service threshold from 1000 m to 3000 m, to provide services to more residents, without outlawing the existence of offline physical stores. Therefore, the impact of virtual services on facility accessibility outcomes is limited, mainly in the setting of facility service thresholds.

Although facility spatial accessibility has a positive effect on promoting fairness in facility allocation, it differs from the perceived accessibility that describes individual feelings. Spatial accessibility adopts a data-driven approach to objectively describe the opportunities for individuals to access services in the city, partially detached from the real urban environment. Perceived accessibility is based on individual choices in the city, which are influenced by preferences, service levels of facilities, safety, road environment, and accessibility. Therefore, in order to compensate for the distortion of spatial accessibility, more extensive social research is needed. There are still limitations in this study, and more in-depth research is needed in the follow-up. Firstly, expanding the scope of data collection is necessary, including information on the area, number of beds, and the count of medical and technical personnel that characterize the service capacity of facilities. This would enhance the accuracy of facility distribution analysis. Secondly, incorporating facility service quality indicators into the evaluation index of facilities, such as the rating of facilities, service satisfaction, etc., would create a comprehensive assessment of facility layout and utilization. Thirdly, the classification of the elderly population and facilities can be considered. By accounting for the age structure of the population, different walking comfort distances can be set for different age groups (60–70, 70–80, 80+), reflecting variations in walking abilities at different ages. Similarly, refining the classification of facilities, such as supermarkets and community canteens that offer on-site services would allow for appropriate adjustments in their service radii. Lastly, conducting comparative studies with other typical cities horizontally and combining data analysis with field research vertically would contribute to research on optimizing facility layout.