As population aging has been an issue worldwide, the mobility of older people have attracted the attention of scholars from urban planning, transport geography, and social science. However, few have ...investigated socio-spatial differentiation among mobility groups, considering their daily needs and activity spaces. To fill this research gap, we conducted a comparative analysis of socio-spatial differentiation, based on individual activity spaces. We used smart card data from Kunming, China, to identify selected individuals’ residential locations and travel patterns, and evaluate their accessed activity space. We performed a disaggregated analysis of the individual activity space, and then aggregated the activity counts on each grid. This study found that the residential locations of older metro travelers are significantly different from those of other metro travelers. In addition, socio-spatial differentiation was found to exist due to different daily requirements. The results were confirmed in three LASSO models with built environment variables. These findings are useful in urban and transportation planning to improve elder-friendly services.
•We propose an analytical framework to aggregate individual trip records to study socio-spatial differentiation.•We perform a disaggregated analysis of individual activity space, and then design an aggregated study of individual activity.•Socio-spatial differentiation is identified according to spatial heterogeneity of residential locations and activity space.
Population aging and climate change caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are two of the major challenges facing contemporary humanity. Based on panel data for 63 countries from 2000 to ...2020, this paper empirically identifies and explores the threshold effects of population aging on carbon emissions, and tests in a causal inference framework the mediating effect mechanism of aging on carbon emissions through two pathways: industrial structure and consumption. Results show that generally when the percentage of the elderly population is higher than 14.5 %, carbon emissions related to industrial structure and residential consumption are significantly reduced although the threshold effects differ across countries. Particularly for lower-middle-income countries, the direction of the threshold effect is uncertain, which indicates the less importance of population aging for carbon emissions in these countries.
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•We identify the significant threshold levels of population aging affects carbon emissions.•Causal mediation effects of industrial structure and residential consumption are tested.•The analysis is based on panel data for 63 countries grouped by income from 2000 to 2020.•The threshold effects differ across countries with different income levels.
In recent decades, rural China is aging rapidly. Population aging implies that people's role in economic activities is transforming from "producer-consumer" to "consumer-producer". Coupled with the ...weakening of intergenerational relationships and the disintegration of the intergenerational division of labor caused by demographic transition, inefficient land use is common in rural China, making it difficult to sustain the traditional family pension model based on the land. Promoted by land system reform, the practice of land-based pension based on "the separation of the three rights" of the land has solved the problem of labor shortage in agricultural production through the introduction of market mechanisms, and reshaped rural human-land relationship. Meanwhile, it revitalizes rural land resources through the assetization and capitalization of land resources, meeting the increasingly transformed and upgraded pension demands of rural elderly. The case study of Lüyi Town in Shandong Province shows that land-based pension has increased the livelihood capital of rural elderly, improved their living conditions, and effectively solved the problem of rural pension while promoting agricultural and rural modernization. As an important supplement to the existing rural pension system, the practice of land-based pension is an exploration of a positive response to rural population ageing, and can be promoted through systematic institutional design in some of the economically better-off regions of China.
•Population aging drives people to gradually shift from "producer-consumer" to "consumer-producer".•Land-based pension reshapes rural human-land relationship through the introduction of market mechanisms.•The practice of Lüyi Town shows that land-based pension has effectively solved the problem of rural pension.•Land-based pension is a practice to actively respond to rural population aging and deserves to be further promoted.
Neighborhood plays an important role in the provision of elderly care in the context of rapid population aging and dwindling traditional family support in China. This study investigates the ...association between neighborhood characteristics and depression and its mechanisms among older adults in Shanghai, focusing on social cohesion and social engagement. Based on data from the first wave of Shanghai Urban Neighborhood Survey (SUNS), we show that social cohesion is a channel through which neighborhood attributes are linked with the elderly's subjective well-being. Different from findings in Western societies, Chinese older adults living in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to interact with their neighbors and thus perceive a higher level of social cohesion. Social cohesion, in turn, is associated with a lower rate of depression. We argue that housing policy in the pre-reform period that integrated work and housing led to the formation of unique Chinese neighborhoods, and that those living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods have strong social ties, which moderate the negative consequences of living in a disadvantaged one. Moreover, a neighborhood with a lower dependency ratio provides more opportunities for volunteer participation which significantly associates with increased social cohesion and decreased depressive symptoms.
•Social cohesion is a mechanism of neighborhood effect on depression.•The elderly in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to interact with neighbors.•The elderly in poorer neighborhoods perceive a higher level of social cohesion.•Social cohesion is associated with decreased depression among the Shanghai elderly.•Social cohesion mediates the relationship between social engagement and depression.
Since the 21st century, the global population aging has been deepening, profoundly affecting regional socio-economy. To investigate the impact of demographic age structure on energy consumption ...structure, this paper explores the impact of population aging on energy consumption structure in mainland China by a multivariate panel regression model. The total energy consumption is increasing year by year in mainland China, with a fluctuating lower growth rate and obvious regional heterogeneity. The high-value total energy consumption zones are concentrated in China's eastern region, dominated by Shandong, etc. Meanwhile, energy consumption structure in mainland China has evolved with a decreasing share of coal consumption. Among them, the share of natural gas consumption is still at a low level, while which of petroleum consumption shows diversity. Population aging has a significant positive correlation with energy consumption structure at the national level, and a negative effect in the medium-value coal consumption zones at the provincial level. Additionally, GDP, the share of secondary industry and energy price are also important. Based on the above findings, some suggestions for optimizing pension service system, adjusting energy consumption structure and economizing fossil energy are proposed.
•China's total energy consumption is increasing with fluctuating lower growth rates.•The high-value total energy consumption zones are concentrated in China's eastern region.•Population aging has a significant positive effect at national level.•Population aging has a negative effect in the medium-value coal consumption zones at provincial level.
Strategic flexibility, and explorative and exploitative capabilities have been argued as critical capabilities and as fundamental ingredients of entrepreneurial marketing. Most past studies have ...tested the efficacy of these capabilities for firms' proactive marketing responses in the context of immediate task environments over which a firm has considerable direct influence. Unfortunately, few empirical studies have researched general environments that are not only essentially uncontrollable but also those for which it is difficult to discern their opportunity–threat implications.
Utilizing a sample from Japan, we test a model that explains the proactive marketing responses to population aging. We found that: 1) a company's strategic flexibility not only serves as a direct driver to both explorative and exploitative capabilities and proactive marketing response, but also imparts a far-reaching indirect effect on the marketing response; and 2) organizational commitment to the population aging issue is a mediator between exploitative capability and marketing responses.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the phenomenon of shrinking cities was widely discussed across Europe. Most European countries saw an increasingly ageing population and an internal migration ...from underdeveloped to more competitive locations. Since the turn of the century, and in contrast to the past, a great deal has been written about the causes and impacts of shrinkage, as well as about policies and planning strategies. However, the state of knowledge in a cross-national comparative perspective is rather poor because, to date, studies have basically analysed large cities and empirical evidence hardly shifts attention to the contextual influence on local dynamics. Against this background, this paper fills the gap between macrotheoretical conceptualisation and empirical observation by testing a heuristic model of urban shrinkage encompassing the whole range of cities in Europe. The paper questions to what extent urban shrinkage represents a broader trend in Europe in terms of both duration and distribution, and aims to investigate the influence of economic and demographic drivers on the non-linear evolution of shrinking cities in Europe. Thereby, the spatial distribution of different trajectories of shrinking cities in urban Europe in the period from 1990 to 2010 will be presented in a comprehensive survey which reveals that 20% of European cities experienced shrinkage between 1990 and 2010, whereas 883 cities face recent shrinkage.
