## 1 Introduction
Studies in China have shown that the main body of elderly living in community and home environments is dominated by healthy and assisted living, including a small proportion of nursing-cared elderly and even those who are completely unable to take care of themselves [41; 42]. In recent years, due to the significant population growth of older people of advanced age; however, there has been an increase in the demand for professional care resources for those who want to live in a community environment [43]. In short, the care demands for those who age in place are diverse and vary from group to group [44], and this naturally has important implications for the planning and configuration of community elderly services and facilities. The demands of older people who age in place are related to their socio-economic characteristics and family structure [40; 45; 46], such as income, education, and living arrangements [34; 47; 48]. Taking economic factors as an example, research indicates that individuals with poor economic conditions are more likely to fall into health poverty, with economically disadvantaged elderly experiencing higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared to groups with better economic status [49; 50; 51]. Coupled with an inability to afford nursing home care, poor elderly people must live in community and home environments for longer periods of time [52], and they require more affordable health and care resources [53; 54]. Similarly, changes in the physical condition of older people influence their service demands, as do other factors such as age and gender [55; 56]. There are also differences in the demands of specific elderly groups; for example, the demands of older people with cognitive disorders and disabilities are significantly different from those of healthy people [57]. Living arrangements and availability of caregivers are also determining factors for the demand for care services [58]. In addition, daily activities are associated with successful aging [59]. Such activities reflect the vitality and socialization patterns of older people and also indirectly influencing their demand for care services [60]. Differences in the built environment of residential areas also lead to differences in the demands of older people, especially demands on exclusive community care service resources. The condition of the built environment in residential areas, such as floor area ratio, housing price, road density, and accessibility to public transport, can indicate the degree of age-friendliness of a residential environment [61] and also influence the accessibility of elderly care services [62; 63]. Adequate facilities in built environments can increase the life satisfaction of older people [24], which is conducive to their stable aging in place [64]. CECFs provide services exclusively for the elderly [38], and have been found to have an important link with the quality of life of elderly who age in place [38; 65]. Studies in Lanzhou have found that the coverage of elderly care facilities and grassroots cultural facilities at all levels is seriously inadequate, however [66]. The distribution of CECFs of different types is also uneven, resulting in the demands of some older people not being met [67]. Furthermore, the study found that there is a general mismatch between function and demand, and insufficient usable space in the facilities in older communities [68]. Previous studies on the demand for elderly care services have focused on the distribution and location of resources, with the elderly population and entire urban areas as main indicators, which is spatially macroscopic. Analyses of the influencing factors of older people have mostly been explored in terms of their own socio-economic characteristics, and there is a lack of research on their built environments. This study therefore focuses on the community and home-dwelling elderly who live in urban core areas specifically as the target group in order to examine their demand for elderly care services more comprehensively.