Accessibility-Based Location Selection for Building Panelized Housing for Seniors

Population ageing is stimulating an increase in the demand for housing suitable for seniors. To meet the demand, the market share of senior housing needs to increase substantially in a relatively short period of time; therefore, panelized construction, as an efficient, economical, and environmentally-friendly construction method, can be regarded as a promising building approach to meet urgent demand for multi-unit housing. However, prior to construction, decisions regarding the location selection for building panelized housing can have a great influence on the level of accessibility that seniors have to neighbouring facilities and services, further affecting their health and quality of life. Based on this, the research presented in this paper aims to search potential land areas for panelized housing developments for seniors from the perspective of accessibility. A set of methods is proposed to define the opportunities and constraints for potential land, measure the accessibility, and select the most suitable location for senior housing by means of suitability analysis. A case study of Edmonton is then analyzed to illustrate the application of these methods.