Sun Yi, Kar-Kan Ling

Keywords： Age-friendliness; Walk; Walkability; Urban Planning; Strategy; Hong Kong

Abstract：

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.

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