Falls in older adults have become a serious problem and a major cause of home injuries and even deaths. The increasing number of older people that will enter the “older adults” category in a few years’ time calls for an effective plan to mitigate the risk factors to falling. This article reported on our study of the relationship between living environment hazards and fall risk in older adults to reduce and prevent the risk of falling using a specific case of a rural area in Thailand. A site investigation together with a questionnaire survey were conducted in a total of 950 homes of older people who were interviewed in conjunction with authorities from Banphaeo district of Samutsakorn Province, Thailand. Using a multinomial logistic regression model, this research found the following risk of falls based on the categorizations of the calculated risk factors among socio-economic characteristics (sex, age, marital status, income), health status (congenital diseases), and living environment characteristics (toilet availability in bedroom). The analysis identified a multifactorial relationship involving intrinsic and extrinsic factors that determined fall risk among older adults. Based on the findings of the research, risk factors associated with socioeconomic determinants in term of poverty were found as a key barrier in promoting the health and well-being of older adults. We recommend interventions for fall prevention and fall risk-reduction strategies through improvement of the physical environment in the homes of older adults as a proactive measure to lessen the causes of home injuries from falls.

The urban built environment, comprising structures, roads, and various facilities, plays a key role in the formation of urban heat islands, which inflict considerable damage upon human society. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in urban areas characterized by the rapid growth and concentration of populations, a global trend, notably exemplified in megacities such as Bangkok, Thailand. The global trend of urbanization has witnessed unprecedented growth in recent decades, with cities transforming into megametropolises that profoundly impact changes in urban temperature, specifically the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon induced by the rapid growth of urban areas. Elevated urban concentrations lead to increased city density, contributing to higher temperatures within the urban environment compared to the surrounding areas. The evolving land-use surface has assumed heightened significance due to urban development, necessitating accelerated efforts to mitigate urban heat islands. This study aims to quantify the influence of urban growth on urban surface temperature in Bangkok and its surrounding areas. The inverse relationship between urban temperature and land surface temperature (LST), coupled with urban area density, was examined using Landsat 5 and 8 satellite imagery. The analysis revealed a positive correlation between higher temperatures and levels of urban growth. Areas characterized by high-rise structures and economic activities experienced the most pronounced impact of the heat island phenomenon. The city exhibited a notable correlation between high density and high temperatures (high–high), signifying that increased density contributes to elevated temperatures due to heat dissipation (significant correlation of R² = 0.8582). Conversely, low-temperature, low-density cities (low–low) with a dispersed layout demonstrated effective cooling of the surrounding area, resulting in a significant correlation with lower local temperatures (R² = 0.7404). These findings provide valuable insights to assist governments and related agencies in expediting planning and policy development aimed at reducing heat in urban areas and steering sustainable urban development.

Understanding the quality of life related to transportation plays a crucial role in enhancing commuters’ quality of life, particularly in daily trips. This study explores the spatial effects of built environment on quality of life related to transportation (QoLT) through the combination of GIS application and deep learning based on a questionnaire survey by focusing on a case study in Sukhumvit district, Bangkok, Thailand. The Geographic Information System (GIS) was applied for spatial analysis and visualization among all variables through a grid cell (500 × 500 sq.m.). In regard to deep learning, the semantic segmentation process that the model used in this research was OCRNet, and the selected backbone was HRNet_W48. A quality-of-life-related transportation indicator (life satisfaction) was implemented through 500 face-to-face interviews and the data were collected by a questionnaire survey. Then, multinomial regression analysis was performed to demonstrate the significant in positive and negative aspects of independent variables (built environment) with QoLT variables at a 0.05 level of statistical significance. The results revealed the individuals’ satisfaction from a diverse group of people in distinct areas or environments who consequently perceived QoLT differently. Built environmental factors were gathered by application of GIS and deep learning, which provided a number of data sets to describe the clusters of physical scene characteristics related to QoLT. The perception of commuters could be translated to different clusters of the physical attributes through the indicated satisfaction level of QoLT. The findings are consistent with the physical characteristics of each typological site context, allowing for an understanding of differences in accessibility to transport systems, including safety and cost of transport. In conclusion, these findings highlight essential aspects of urban planning and transport systems that must consider discrepancies of physical characteristics in terms of social and economic needs from a holistic viewpoint. A better understanding of QoLT adds important value for transportation development to balance the social, economic, and environmental levels toward sustainable futures.

Older adults living alone present a vulnerable physical and mental health group with public health and service needs. This situation has risen and is therefore expected to increase calls for urgent attention from concerned authorities. This article focuses on the study of factors related to different living arrangements of older adults and also examines the extent to which baseline variables explained the association between living alone and social isolation characteristics. A questionnaire survey restricted to respondents aged 60 years and over, living in Ban Phaeo, Samutsakhon, Thailand, was scoped for data collection. Older adults living alone and in co-residence (living together) constitute a total of 1162 samples. The binary logistic regression model was applied to examine the association between living alone and social isolation characteristics. The result found that factors relating to older adults’ different living arrangements are marital status, household members numbers, level of dependency, and type of caregivers. An association was found between the characteristics of living alone and social isolation in three relative variables, which are age, activities of daily living (ADLs), and type of caregivers. In conclusion, household living arrangements have different related factors like marital status, where a single or divorced person is more likely to live alone. Furthermore, it is also influenced by the need for caregiving on the part of the older adult or family members; particularly, their children typically emerge as the unpaid assistance from families. When only a sample of older adults living alone with social isolation is considered, it was discovered that with the advancing age of older adults living alone, whether single or married, encountered problems with the activities of daily living (ADLs). This set of people rarely goes out to perform activities outside their home and seldom attend social and physical activities. This could lead to a risk of social isolation with a greater risk of physical and mental health problems, including the well-being of older adults living alone in later life. Thus, family caregivers play a key role as a primary source of support to prevent older adults from being socially isolated, which has become an integral part of our healthcare system in promoting physical, mental, and functional health among older adults in a positive way.

This study explores road users’ behaviors and accident analyses on different travel modes in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR). The questionnaire survey was adopted and designed based on contributing factors related to risk behavior perceptions in different travel modes. A total of 3000 participants submitted questionnaires that provided data for a multiple regression model analysis. The results indicated that different travel modes have different risk behavior perceptions. Road users of vulnerable modes of travel, such as walking and cycling, were more aware of risky behaviors than users of others. Risky, violent behavior may occur due to fatigue, driving while taking drugs, or aggressive tactics where the driver may lose control and cause an accident. However, driver negligence, especially violating traffic rules, may sometimes cause risky behavior. The results show that age, gender, education level, income level, marital status, driving experience, accident experience, and attitude toward road safety affect risk behavior perception. In conclusion, the differentiation of vehicles plays a vital role as a critical issue that should be understood for effectively mitigating risks in different travel patterns.

The urbanization process is often concentrated mostly in urban areas, resulting into urban development sprawl. This has effects on the lifestyles and activities of urban people, which in turn significantly affects the health of the city. The quality of the urban environment plays an important role in public health with respect to urban issues ranging from quality of utilities and services to quality of life. This study aims to study the perception of Pathumthani residents toward its environmental quality through spatial cluster analysis. A total of 1,000 sets of data collected from the interview survey among residents or commuters traveling through Pathumthani province was used for this study. The residents' response towards environ-mental factors was examined through the classification of their different opinions among built environ-ment and health aspects. The statistical analysis which was performed in this study was cluster analysis to demonstrate its relationship. With the level of satisfaction on environment aspect and health status in in-dicating number of congenital diseases, the result of this study found that condition of living environment (through Likert scale) affects the urban health with statistical significance of (P <0.05). Therefore, provin-cial health policy should focus more on developing a healthy city in consistence with economic and social development while putting adequate mechanisms for environmental surveillance monitoring at the com-munity level. The result of study can confirm the usefulness of this unconventional approach by asking residents or commuters about their satisfaction on built environment which can represent as an evidence-based planning approach by linking local people attitudes and translating them into creating liveable and better urban environmental quality. To have a good understanding of local people preferences, the recom-mendation to be given to the capacity of communities can be focused for improving people's quality of life by providing better accessibility, high quality of infrastructures and services. Finally, a set of features of satisfied built environment can help to support the continued growth of the city in term of basic need and sufficiency provision of facility and utility system.