Assessing the Disparity between Supply and Demand of Green Spaces by Elderlies based on GIS – Taking Wuhan, China as an Example

Abstract

Urban green space (UGS) are crucial sites for providing ecosystem services. Given the context of population aging and the national initiative of Health China, it is urgently needed to identify service blind areas, and scientifically select green space construction regions through the coordination of supply and demand evaluation. Focusing on the central area of Wuhan, this paper calculated the supply and potential demand of the elderly for UGS by GIS network analysis, kernel density, and Thiessen polygon, identified the service blind areas of green spaces by overlay analysis, and used the location-allocation model to purposefully supplement green space. The results indicated that under the assessment of walking accessibility, the supply of green space is good. The blind areas of urban green space supply are 20.54%, but the accessibility range within a short period needs to be improved. The elderly show a multi-core layout mode influenced by environmental and historical factors. There is a mismatch between the demand for green space by the elderly and its actual layout. 12.50% of the areas have insufficient supply, this study optimized the urban spatial layout of the 7 UGS in these areas, of which 3 are in Hongshan District, 2 in Qingshan District, and 2 in Jiangan District. The research findings can give references to improving the supply and demand balance of urban green space for the elderly, addressing the current imbalance and inadequacy in green space provision.