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Population ageing is occurring in China at a breathtaking pace and rapidly becoming a major public health issue. Due to the one-child policy, rural/urban migration and other societal changes, the family-dependent long-term care (LTC) of the past will no longer suffice. Barely existent now, both institutional and community-based services will need to expand to meet the growing need. China is still at an earlier stage in economic development and will be challenged to build these services and train staff. Furthermore, many elders are not yet covered by financial and insurance support. This massive demographic transition requires political efforts to develop integrated and sustainable national LTC systems.

Urban villages play an important role in providing affordable housing to urban migrants in Chinese cities. They are considered as supplementary to the dual rural-urban system in China. Of central importance to studying urban villages is how the morphology of these informal settlements affects urban life. It is essential for urban planners and designers to examine the morphology of urban villages. This paper, therefore, investigates the morphology of urban villages using the case study of Dayuan Village in Guangzhou, China. The morphology of this urban village is tested against four main elements of urban morphology: urban density, accessibility, functional mix, and urban interface. Our results revealed that the type of street within the urban village has considerable influence on accessibility, functional mix, and urban interface. Regarding urban density, our results show that buildings’ height is not influenced by the centrality of buildings nor land value; however, it is likely that it is affected by planning agreements between the village committee and the local government. Land coverage does not comply with the planning regulation for residential districts. Regarding accessibility analysis, the number of entrances to streets is influenced by the type of street under analysis. The distribution of different types of functional mix is also affected by the type of street within the urban village. The buildings with a mix of ‘live/visit’ are concentrated along the formal streets and primary inner streets. The mono-functional use of ‘live’ and the bi-functional mix of ‘live/work’ are mostly located in the secondary inner streets. Regarding urban interface, our results demonstrate that the formal streets have an interface with considerable porosity, and that this can contribute to the livelihood of the immediate area.

In high-density cities, physical activity (PA) diversity is an essential indicator of public health and urban vitality, and how to meet the demands of diverse PA in a limited residential built environment is critical for promoting public health. This study selected Shenzhen, China, as a representative case; combined the diversity of PA participants, types, and occurrence times to generate a comprehensive understanding of PA diversity; fully used data from multiple sources to measure and analyze PA diversity and residential built environment; analyzed the relationships between the built environment and PA diversity; and explored the different effects in clustered and sprawled high-density urban forms. PAs in clustered areas were two times more diverse than those in sprawled areas. Accessibility, inclusiveness, and landscape attractiveness of residential built environment jointly improved PA diversity. Clustered areas had significant advantages in supporting PA diversity since they could keep the balance between dense residence and landscape reservation with an accessible and inclusive public space system. The residential built environment with dense street networks, public traffic and service, multi-functional public space system, and attractive landscapes is crucial to improve the diverse PA to achieve more public health outputs in high-density cities. To promote health-oriented urban development, clustered urban form is advocated, and step-forward strategies should be carried out.