Policies and interventions involving the built environment have become a promising opportunity for the promotion of walking as a sustainable transportation mode. Among voluminous literature, few studies were found that examined the association between the built environment and walking among the elderly in China. This study investigated the relationship between the built environment and the walking activity of the elderly based on data collected in Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, China. The results suggest that abundant sidewalks, dense bus stops, easily accessible commercial establishments, and ample green land space are potentially effective to enhance walking among the elderly, albeit to varied degrees. The compact urban form, which is considered as walkability in the western context, may not necessarily play a positive role in Zhongshan’s context. The findings provide insights into the policy-making to promote sustainable transportation modes and the design of interventions on health promotion of the elderly in China.

Global aging has raised increasing concerns on the health and well-being of older adults. Public transport is a viable option to improve the mobility and quality of life among older adults. However, policies that promote the public transport use among older adults are rare. This study utilizes the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) decision tree to explore the non-linear associations of the built and social environment with bus use among older adults in China. The bus use of older adults was obtained from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. Results show that non-linear relationships exist among all built environment and social environment characteristics. Within certain thresholds, the percentage of green space land use, land use mixture, bus-stop density, and dwelling unit density are positively related to bus use among older adults. Likewise, one social environment variable, the proportion of older adults in a neighborhood, is the key social environment variable. Furthermore, the dwelling unit density and proportion of older adults appear to have an inverse U-shaped relationship. Additionally, age, ownership of motorcycles, and distance from home to the nearest bus stop also show non-linearity. The findings presented in this paper facilitate effective planning interventions to promote bus use among older adults.

Well-designed wayfinding signs play an important role in improving the service level of metro stations, ensuring the safety of passengers in evacuation, and promoting the sustainable development of public transport. This study explored the effects of ambient illumination, color combination, sign height, and observation angle on wayfinding signs’ legibility in metro stations. In the experiment, simulated metro-wayfinding signs were made to test legibility. As designed, the legibility was measured based on the following independent variables: two levels of ambient illumination (70 lux and 273 lux), two target/background color combinations (achromatic-white target on black background, chromatic-yellow target on black background), two sign heights (1.5 m and 2 m), and three observation angles (0°, 45°, 70°). The results showed that brighter ambient illumination provided passengers with higher legibility. Achromatic color combination was more legible than chromatic color combination, but not significantly. Different types of signs, set at different height, did not directly affect legibility. Observation angle had significant effects on legibility. Visibility catchment area of wayfinding signs was like an ellipse, with its short axis nearly equal to the legibility distance of the sign at 0 degrees. The findings will facilitate the layout and setting location of wayfinding signs in metro stations and improve the level of wayfinding service.

To address worsening urban traffic and environmental issues, planners and policy makers in China have begun to recognize the importance of shaping vehicle use through the built environment. However, very few studies can be found that examine the relationship between the built environment and vehicle use in the Chinese context. With data collected in Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, this study examined how two built environment representations—simple measures and neighborhood types—were related to household car trips and motorcycle trips in China. The results of the negative binomial regression models showed that the household socio-demographic measures displayed significant association, and the built environment representations enhanced the explanatory powers. All else being equal, households in Zhongshan would generate less car and motorcycle trips if located in neighborhoods with denser land use development, better transit service and less connective street networks. In order to shape vehicle use, the findings provided informative insights for planners and policy makers to form a relatively high density of land use developments, slow down the construction of street networks, provide more jobs adjacent to residential areas and facilitate easy access to public transportation services.

The health and welfare of older adults have raised increasing attention due to global aging. Cycling is a physical activity and mode of transportation to enhance the mobility and quality of life among older adults. Nevertheless, the planning strategies to promote cycling among older adults are underutilized. Therefore, this paper describes the nonlinear associations of the built environment with cycling frequency among older adults. The data were collected from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. The modeling approach was the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model. The findings demonstrated that nonlinear relationships exist among all the selected built environment attributes. Within specific intervals, the population density, the land-use mixture, the distance from home to the nearest bus stop, and the distance from home to CBD are positively correlated to the cycling among older adults. Additionally, an inverse “U”-shaped relationship appears in the percentage of green space land use among all land uses. Moreover, the intersection density is inversely related to the cycling frequency among older adults. These findings provide nuanced and appropriate guidance for establishing age-friendly neighborhoods.

Cycling is an important form of active transport and physical activity to provide substantial health benefits to the elderly. Among voluminous physical activity-related literature, few studies have investigated the correlates of active transport of the rural elderly in China. This study was the first attempt to investigate the impact of the household, personal, and environmental attributes on rural elderly’s cycling activity with data collected in 102 rural neighborhoods of Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, China. The negative binomial regression models suggest that, all else being equal, living in a neighborhood with low proportion of elderly population (over 60), abundant bike lanes, and a compact urban form related to high density and mixed development, are associated with the increase of frequency and duration of the rural elderly’s cycling trips. The models also detect that attitude towards cycling and household bicycle and motorized vehicle ownership are strongly related to cycling trips of the rural elderly in Zhongshan. The findings provide insights for transportation and public health agencies, practitioners, and researchers into the effective design of interventions from the prospective of attitudes, social and built environment on health promotion of the rural elderly in China.