Page 63 - JCAU-6-3

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

A B C D

E F G H

Figure 5. Spatial distribution of different community resources based on points of interest. (A) Service distribution. (B) Commerce distribution. (C)
Cultural distribution. (D) Leisure distribution. (E) Health distribution. (F) Transit distribution. (G) Public service distribution. (H) Government and
organization distribution. Source: Drawing by the authors

the East Third Ring Road and Wangjing areas (Figure 5F). leisure activities, public amenities, services, and transit
Governmental and organizational POIs, comprising connectivity. Employing the elbow method and K-means
government agencies, social organizations, public safety cluster analysis, we divided the 2,634 communities into
agencies, social organizations, tax organizations, foreign three groups. As illustrated in Figure 6, these communities,
organizations, and embassies, are concentrated within the arranged along the ring roads, exhibit divergent qualities
Fourth Ring Road, with the highest concentration in the and housing price distributions. Notably, while this partial
East and West Third Ring Roads (Figure 5H). arrangement is consistent with the classic monocentric
The spatial distribution indicates that community patterns of urban growth, deviations are evident,
facilities and service spaces are somewhat scarce, particularly in the western and northern sectors.
underscoring their critical role as assets for advanced Based on the community geographical information
smart aging services. Cultural and educational facilities presented in Figure 6 and the clustering characteristics
can cooperate with established universities to mitigate delineated in Figure 7, communities exhibiting a
the demographic shift characterized by a declining birth substantial proportion of elderly residents predominantly
rate and a growing elderly population. At the same time, concentrated in the city’s Third Ring Road, particularly
extending online courses to peripheral areas can improve within Group 2, which is characterized by old buildings and
the overall quality of life for the elderly population citywide. high property values. Conversely, Group 0 contrasts with
In proximity to transit facilities, the local community can Group 2, featuring low market prices, recent construction,
explore tailored housing and transportation services for a younger demographic profile, and a great distance from
elderly individuals who are still engaged in the workforce the city center. While this demographic segment exhibits a
and rely on daily commutes. In areas with a concentration predisposition toward embracing smart technologies, the
of governance and organizational infrastructure, deploying relatively modest property values diminish the emphasis
an appropriate number of volunteers and establishing on revenue generation through smart facility investments.
online business processing platforms can improve the Instead, the focus tends to center on improving service
quality and efficiency of urban services.
quality and efficiency.
4.3. Smart age-friendly community typologies On the other hand, cultural, commercial, and health-
The classification aims to identify the characteristics of care amenities, among other public services, are more
local aging communities ripe for renovation, accounting readily accessible to aging communities. However, a
for the diverse local conditions within Beijing. Among the significant disparity exists between the availability of public
12 indicators considered include average housing price, service resources within and beyond the Third Ring Road,
distance from the city center, building age, the proportion with a notable scarcity of resources in the outer regions
of elderly people, commercial infrastructure, cultural compared to the relative abundance within the city center.
amenities, culinary offerings, healthcare accessibility, This disparity likely stems from the constrained provision

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1754