The Logic, Mechanisms and Pathways of Silver Economy-Driven Age-Friendly Reconstruction of Urban Sports Space

As an emerging economic form arising in response to population aging, the silver economy has become a strategic lever for the age-friendly reconstruction of urban sports space. Drawing upon Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space as an analytical framework, and employing documentary research and logical induction,this study systematically examines how the silver economy facilitates this reconstruction process. The study finds that, at the logical level, in representations of space, elderly sports policy has undergone a paradigm shift from welfare-oriented provision to economic imperatives; in spatial practice, urban renewal initiatives have established age-friendly spatial orientations—accessibility, adaptability, and participation; and in representational space, the silver economy has forged an intrinsic nexus with sports space by resolving the mismatch between elderly demographics and spatial resources, bridging the divide between public welfare and the market, and constructing a tiered supply system. At the level of driving mechanisms, the silver economy, through the demand-pull mechanism, translates demand signals from representational space into representations of space; through the resource allocation mechanism, translates spatial policy orientations in representations of space into spatial practice; and through the space production mechanism, translates spatial practice into new configurations of representational space. Accordingly, the study proposes the following pathways: deepening representations of space by refining age-friendly institutional arrangements in light of market signals; deepening spatial practice by leveraging social capital to improve age-friendly spatial performance; and deepening representational space by harnessing silver consumption to underpin the production of age-friendly meanings. Collectively, these pathways are intended to more fully unleash the driving potential of the silver economy in the age-friendly reconstruction of urban sports space.