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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1428424

Assessing the Spatial Equity of the Aged care institutions Based on the Improved Potential Model: A Case Study in Shanghai, China

Provisionally accepted
Chenyang Wang Chenyang Wang 1Xiuli Geng Xiuli Geng 2*
  • 1 Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
  • 2 University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    With the spread of an aging society, the demand for aged care institutions among older adults is increasing. The inadequate supply and distribution of aged care institutions have led to an increasing concern about spatial equity in aged care institutions. Most studies have utilized accessibility to assess spatial equity from the supply perspective, while the demand perspective has received little attention. In addition, few studies have evaluated the spatial equity of aged care institutions at grid resolution. Therefore, this study takes Shanghai as an example to analyze aged care institutions from both the supply and demand perspectives. By proposing an improved potential model, at a network resolution of 500×500, the spatial equity of aged care institutions is more refined. The results show that aged care institutions and the older population in Shanghai are predominantly concentrated in the downtown area and surrounding regions. However, the results obtained from the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient indicate the allocation of pension beds based on population size is proportional across different districts of Shanghai. When considering the quality indicators of aged care institutions and introducing the improved potential energy model to calculate spatial accessibility, an imbalance between regions in Shanghai still exists and needs further optimization.

    Keywords: Improved potential model, Spatial equity, spatial distribution, spatial configuration, Aged care institutions

    Received: 06 May 2024; Accepted: 05 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang and Geng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiuli Geng, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 130012, Shanghai Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.