Page 59 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Age-friendly smart communities in Beijing

Figure 1. A summary of smart community development in China since 2010. Source: Drawing by the authors

non-privacy intrusive sensing technology to enable health smartwatches and smart sensing terminals to residents
surveillance for fall incidents and monitoring of individuals aged 60 and above who are alone, widowed, disabled, or
with conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s frail. As of the end of November 2022, over 1500 elderly
disease. In addition, assistive robots may be deployed individuals have been equipped with smart care devices,
for health monitoring, domestic services, and simple and efforts will continue to ensure comprehensive
communications (Kong et al., 2023). On a community coverage (Wu and Lan, 2022). In Beijing, the Beihang
scale, there are growing efforts to integrate physical space district community explored a service model that
(i.e., places), community facilities and local businesses combines municipal guidance, community leadership, and
(i.e., services), and stakeholders, including residents, public welfare support to complement conventional care
community workers, and service providers (i.e., people). services provided by institutions and volunteer groups. By
For instance, the Da Ning Road neighborhood in Shanghai collecting data on elderly residents’ needs, the information
has implemented a “1+4+X” smart service ecosystem. This platform can optimize service supply and local demands
ecosystem integrates physical space, community facilities, by connecting local domestic service providers with elderly
senior-care services, and public wellness programs as citizens (Li et al., 2023). Despite such diverse models and
a network supported by information technology and pilot projects, age-friendly smart community development
applications, including digital platforms, smartphone has been mostly initiative-based in a piecemeal manner,
applications, IoT devices, and big data (Zhang, 2022). lacking systematic citywide analysis.
Diverse smart applications adopt different 3. Methods
implementation models and emphases depending on
technology and the specific needs of cities. For example, 3.1. Analytical questions
certain communities focus on catering to specific age The current limitation in intraurban spatial analytics
groups and their special needs beyond a general service constrains understanding of community conditions and
network (Zhang et al., 2020). In Shanghai, the Hong Qiao variations. This dearth of investigation prompts this study
district community established a database for local elderly to explore relevant quantitative measures and spatial
living alone, documenting their address, health status, analysis utilizing heterogeneous data sources. Taking
chronic illness, and special conditions such as cognitive Beijing as a case study, we aim to investigate available
disorder, alogia, or disabilities (Changzhou Municipal data sources that may provide insights for future smart
People’s Government Office, 2022; Shanghai Civil Affairs community development by focusing on two questions:
Bureau, 2023). Meanwhile, in Shenzhen, the Yan Tian (i) What are the basic criteria for identifying aging
district community provides free smart devices such as communities in Beijing?

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1754