Analysis of the Correlation Between the Accessibility of Built Environment Elements and Residents’ Self-Rated Health in New Rural Communities

Xiu Yang, Chao Liu, Wei Liu (), Ximin Hu and Kehao Li
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Xiu Yang: School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Chao Liu: School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Wei Liu: School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Ximin Hu: School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Kehao Li: School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-24

Abstract: In the contexts of rapid urbanization and the Healthy China Strategy, understanding how the built environment affects residents’ health has become a pressing issue for the development of new rural communities. This study aims to investigate the associations between facility accessibility and residents’ health, and to provide evidence for health-oriented rural planning. Taking Pujiang County in Chengdu as the case study, we measured the accessibility of nine categories of facilities using GIS-based network analysis and evaluated residents’ health through the Self-Rated Health Measurement Scale (SRHMS). Gradient Boosting Decision Trees (GBDT) combined with SHAP interpretation were employed to examine and explain the influence of accessibility factors on health outcomes. The results indicate that the accessibility of road entrances, public toilets, garbage transfer points, schools, and community service centers is negatively associated with residents’ health, with variations across physical, mental, and social health dimensions. Moreover, social health is insufficiently explained by physical accessibility alone, implying the additional importance of social and cultural conditions. These findings offer practical guidance for optimizing facility layout and spatial design in new rural communities and provide an empirical basis for promoting health-oriented rural planning in China and similar contexts.

Keywords: built environment; new rural communities; self-rated health; optimization strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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