Renewal Research On Aging Of Public Space In Existing Residential Areas In Lanzhou Based On Hierarchy Theory Of Needs

As China enters the stage of rapid population aging,with its 40 years of fast-paced urbanization development,the modern cities and their existing residential communities face the problems of both aging population and aging residential infrastructure.Although China has an ongoing project to retrofit its existing residential area,the project mainly focuses on the improvement of building waterproofing and external thermal insulation,building barrier-free ramps at unit entrances,and residents’ voluntary installation of elevators.However,the retrofitting and renovating project was not systematically initiated from an understanding of the relationship of the space structure.This paper aims to research and investigate through area analysis,gradually improving public spaces of the existing residential area through small-scale updating.Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory,this paper selects the existing residential areas in Lanzhou as its research object,intending to update and adapt to the needs of the aging population.This research conducts semi-structured interviews,questionnaires,and continuous observation on the elderly population,then objectively analyzes the elderly behavior,their physical and psychological status,the public space in the existing residential area,and how all the factors above influence the behavior of the elderly.For the three existing residential districts in Lanzhou,the focal subjects of the research,the spatial syntax theory is employed to extract the axes of the main roads utilizing Depthmap to calculate the topological relationship.Applying multiple factors including connectivity,adjacency,and enclosure to analyze the accessibility,visibility of the districts,the research attempts to find the most accessible space for the elderly.Through the correlation between the behavior of the elderly and their gathering spaces,all the data are compared and verified in fixed-point measurements,so that the data are more accurately corresponding to the updated space nodes of the residential areas,in order to provide a reference for the latest aging-appropriate design of the outdoor public space in the existing residential areas.After observatory research,syntactic analysis,and field verification,the research proposes a renewal strategy on existing residential areas according to the levels of needs of the elderly population,from point to line to space,until community atmosphere is created and value demand is met.The research is expected to provide a reference for the aging residential areas and the renewal and retrofit of public spaces in Lanzhou.