Public transport brings significant benefits to the aging society by providing essential mobility to the elderly. However, few studies have investigated the factors that impact public transport use among the urban or rural elderly. This study explored the effects of personal, attitudinal, household, social environment, and built environment factors on the public transport trips of the elderly. The research data was collected from 274 urban and rural neighborhoods of Zhongshan, a medium-sized Chinese city. The negative binomial regression models suggest that, all else being equal, living in a neighborhood with a high level of public transport service, abundant green space along walking routes connecting home and bus-stops, or a relatively balanced structure of age or income is strongly connected to more public transport trips of the elderly. The results also indicate that a strong preference for public transport is significantly related to the public transport use among the elderly. These findings facilitate our understanding of the correlates of public transport use while providing insights into achieving an effective design of policies to encourage public transport use among the elderly in China.
The various benefits of urban green space are gaining increasing attention nowadays. Hence, the distribution of green space has become a scrutinized concern for spatial equity among local governments and the planning scholars. This study is the first quantitative evaluation of urban park accessibility using house-level data in urban China, from the perspective of social equity. We chose Nanjing as the empirical case and examined 2709 real estate units and 79 parks within the city. Accessibility is measured by the 10-min walking distance from homes to the adjacent urban parks. Using the Street Network Analysis model in ArcGIS and the statistical methods in SPSS, the result shows that 60.5% of the real estates in Nanjing are located within a 10-min walk to access urban parks. However, this accessibility is positively correlated with housing prices, and negatively correlated with the age of the buildings, holding all other factors constant. While affluent homeowners capture a high-quality green amenity, newly-built low-income communities, where most residents are classified as a vulnerable population, have the lowest percentage of accessible green space. This study reveals the existing spatial disparities of urban park accessibility among different socio-economic groups in Nanjing, China. Additionally, we found that urban redevelopment projects with greening and the large-scale affordable housing construction are pricing out the urban poor and rural immigrants from the inner city to the urban peripheral areas. This will reduce the accessibility to urban parks and other public service facilities among the lower income families, and exacerbate the inequality among the rich and the poor in terms of their quality of life. Main findings of this study can inform policy decisions regarding equitable park provision in the construction of the green city and the sustainable development in urban China and other developing countries.
What is already known about this topic?
Millettia pachycarpa
belongs to the Fabaceae family and is widely distributed in the southern China. It is toxic for the rotenone contained in its roots and seeds, and ingesting its seeds could result in poisoning.
What is added by this report?
In December, 2020, a poisoning from plant seeds occurred in Chongqing Municipality. The etiological association was confirmed based on epidemiological investigation, clinical manifestation, plant species identification, and rotenone analysis. The patient rapidly developed central nervous and respiratory depression with metabolic acidosis. The plant was identified as
Millettia pachycarpa
, and toxin analysis indicated that the rotenone content contained in the seeds was high enough to cause intoxication.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Millettia pachycarpa
poisoning is rare but could be fatal. Efforts should be made to educate and communicate with the public, doctors, and public health practitioners that the toxic effects the seeds could be life-threating when swallowed, both accidentally or intentionally.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.