Identifying the Daily Activity Spaces of Older Adults Living in a High-Density Urban Area: A Study Using the Smartphone-Based Global Positioning System Trajectory in Shanghai

The characteristics of the built environment and the configuration of public facilities can affect the health and well-being of older adults. Recognizing the range of daily activities and understanding the utilization of public facilities among older adults has become essential in planning age-friendly communities. However, traditional methods are unable to provide large-scale objective measures of older adults’ travel behaviors. To address this issue, we used the smartphone-based global positioning system (GPS) trajectory to explore the activity spaces of 76 older adults in a high-density urban community in Shanghai for 102 consecutive days. We found that activity spaces are centered around older adults’ living communities, with 46.3% within a 1.5 km distance. The older adults’ daily activities are within a 15 min walking distance, and accessibility is the most important factor when making a travel choice to parks and public facilities. We also found that the travel range and spatial distribution of points of interest are different between age and gender groups. In addition, we found that using a concave hull with Alpha shape algorithm is more applicable and robust than the traditional convex hull algorithm. This is a unique case study in a high-density urban area with objective measures for assessing the activity spaces of older adults, thus providing empirical evidence for promoting healthy aging in cities.