Effect of Environmental Planning on Elderly Individual Quality of Life in Severe Cold Regions: A Case Study in Northeastern China

Abstract

With the development of urbanization and the ageing population, the improvement of the urban environment and the quality of life (QOL) of the elderly in cities with a cold climate have become critical issues to be addressed. However, only a few studies have focused on this aspect. According to a review of the literature, the contents of the built environment (BE) in severe cold regions are defined as thirteen key factors of four categories (density, environmental aesthetics, outdoor environment, and accessibility) and the QOL of old people consists of three aspects (residential, health, and social satisfaction). This study explores how BE variables are associated with the QOL of older adults by using ordered logit and gologit2 models. The data consist of the results of 1945 questionnaires from field surveys in 11 different residential areas, across two cities in northeastern China. The results show: (1) Walkability in winter, distance to a public park of 400–1000 m, outdoor shelters and seating, less than five buses available, and a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees are five of the most important variables of BE that have a significant positive impact on QOL compared with other climatic regions; (2) “Pocket parks” and pedestrian walkway safety are appropriate approaches to improve wellbeing under local economic conditions. For public transportation, metro and rail transit systems are encouraged, and some rules are needed to reduce the number of buses in harsh weather conditions; (3) Compared with spatial distribution in other climates, the scope of a 15 min city should be less than 1km in severe cold areas. From the findings, we conclude that there are six possible pattern languages to improve the urban environment, and they can provide information for further study on environmental planning in severe cold regions.