中国老年人空间行为研究进展

Research progress on spatial behaviors of the elderly in China

中国人口老龄化及空巢化现象的加快使得老龄问题受到学者关注。老龄化进程和养老模式等宏观层面的研究为中国老龄工作的开展提供政策指导,而政策的落实状况及其对老年人生活的影响需要从微观层面通过空间行为分析来还原老年人个体与环境之间的互动关系。本文从空间行为的视角对国内多个学科的老年人日常行为相关研究进行评述。基于对老年人生活方式及需求层次理论的认知,文章聚焦中国老年人日常生活的主体行为:就医行为、购物行为和休闲行为,梳理这3类行为的国内研究发展历程及其行为特征、影响机制分析等主要研究结论。基于时空间尺度和出行链进行了中国老年人空间行为研究的地理学探讨,并结合国际老年地理学的研究发展,提出了老年人空间行为研究的展望。

Along with the increase of aging population and empty-nest families in China, a series of social is- sues with the aging population have become the focus of academic studies. The Researches at macro-level, such as aging process and ways of caring for the aged, provide policy guidance for the government. On the other hand, if we want to estimate the effects of the government＇s policies, especially for aged people＇s daily lives, we should analyze the interactions between the elderly individuals and the environment at micro-level, namely, the research on spatial behaviors of the elderly. Moreover, the research helps provide guidance for urban planning which could improve aged people＇s life quality and promote social justice in space resources by controlling structural evolution of urban spaces based on the demands of the elderly＇s lives and their living conditions. In this paper we discuss the current multi-disciplinary researches on the elderly＇s daily lives in China. Based on the awareness of the elderly＇s lifestyles and Maslow＇s hierarchy of needs, we conclude that health seeking, shop- ping, and leisure behavior are the main activities of senior citizens＇ daily lives in China. Therefore, this paper fo- cuses on these three types of behaviors, reviews the progress of correlational studies by combing through the do- mestic literature on the subject, then summarizes the behavioral characteristics of the elderly and the influencing factors, especially the interactive mechanism between urban space and residents＇ behavior during the transition time in China. We synthetically assess the advantage, disadvantage and inadequacy of the studies we have cov- ered, based on the analyses of the current status and the trend of the elderly＇s behaviors at home. By comparing to the research status of international geographical gerontology which is composed of multiple academic disci- plines, we predict the trend of further studies in the macro background of social-cultural and spatial environment changes, and expect that the high-level needs of self-fulfillment of the elderly could be met in a favorable envi- ronment with supporting service facilities and community services.