Accessibility of Elderly Care Facilities Based on Social Stratification: A Case Study in Tianjin, China

Abstract

With the increasingly prominent phenomenon of social stratification in urban development, it is of practical significance to study the accessibility of elderly care facilities for different social groups. The study improves the mathematical model of the two-step floating catchment area method (2SFCA) as regards three aspects: the accurate demand of elderly residents, the comprehensive supply capacity of elderly care facilities, and the precision of travel costs. Taking Tianjin as an example, the study measures the accessibility of elderly care facilities from the perspective of social stratification. The results show that: (1) The improved model is more practical in evaluating the accessibility of elderly care facilities. (2) The spatial distribution of social groups in Tianjin presents a concentric structure and the social stratification in the periphery area is more obvious. (3) The accessibility scores of elderly care facilities are higher in the city center, lower in the periphery area, higher in the south, and lower in the north. (4) High- and middle-income groups have better accessibility, while the elite and low-income groups have worse accessibility.