Understanding Urban Vitality from the Economic and Human Activities Perspective:A Case Study of Chongqing,China

The literature on urban vitality tends to focus on the built environment.This paper argues that some important processes in shaping vitality may be overlooked without examining the intensity and diversity of economic and human activities.Using newly developed spatial big data and adopting the methods of multi-indicator measurement and spatial analysis methods,we analyzed the pattern of urban vitality in Chongqing,a provincial city in western China and,on this basis,evaluated the creation and maintenance of urban vitality from the economic and human activities perspective.Our findings indicate that the impacts of economic and human activities are positive and significant.Among the three intensity and diversity indicators,economic intensity and population density show an effect on urban vitality stronger than that of economic diversity.However,economic diversity has the strongest superposition or interactive effect,and is thus an important foundation dynamic.The positive effect of population density on urban vitality is largely a result of Chongqing’s jobs-housing balance.The case of Chongqing highlights the importance of topographic features,historical inheritance,large-scale migration,and cultural activities in shaping the distinctive vitality pattern of a city.This study contends that the creation and maintenance of urban vitality can not be fully explained without incorporating the impacts of economic and human activities.It contributes to a comprehensive measurement of urban vitality and enriches its connotations.

Impact of human settlements quality on urban vitality based on multisource data:A case study of Shahekou District,Dalian,China

Urban geography has always been concerned about the influence of human settlements on urban vitality,but few studies reveal the influence of human settlements on urban vitality at a micro-scale.This paper analyzes the spatial distribution characteristics of human settlements’quality and urban vitality at the micro-scale using Geodetectors and geographic weighted regression to analyze the relationship between human settlements and urban vitality.The results are shown as follows:there is still a significant development space for human settlements quality in Shahekou District,with obvious spatial dependence characteristics and significant gaps between various systems;the urban vitality of Shahekou District has obvious timeliness,and the urban vitality undergoes significant changes over time,which is related to the human settlements quality.The spatial distribution presents a single core spatial distribution structure with strong relative stability.The spatial distribution of cold and hot spots shows a pattern of“high in the north and low in the south,high in the east and low in the west”,with an increasing trend from southwest to northeast;the reachability of public transport has a significant impact on urban vitality.Its synergy with other variables is the leading force forming the spatial distribution of urban vitality.The environmental system,support system and social system are the significant factors affecting the urban vitality of Shahekou District.

Urban vitality assessment at the neighborhood scale with geo-data:A review toward implementation

The number of urban vitality assessment studies is rising continuously,owing to the emergence of geographic data.The current literature focuses primarily on evaluation,rather than implementation,of urban vitality.Hence,a scoping review and research agenda are needed for urban vitality research to be more practical.This study aims to fill the research gap by exploring the content and methods of vitality assessment that can make urban vitality research more compatible with policy,planning,and design practice.We chose the neighborhood scale,which is the most practical initiative unit for vitality enhancement.We discovered that the gaps between the current research and practice primarily lie in the diversity of research subjects,the authenticity and comprehensiveness of vitality measurement,and the multi-domain of impact factor analysis.On this basis,we classified the following expandable aspects:(1) multi-type,multi-dimensional,multi-temporal,and implementation-adaptive vitality evaluation;(2) methods reflecting high-quality social interactions and the perceptions of vulnerable groups;(3) how design and urban management impacts vitality;and(4) the synergistic effects of multiple indicators on vitality.Overall,the research content and methodology presented in this paper can help neighborhood-scale vitality assessment to provide more meaningful insights for policy makers and practitioners.

Monitoring the transformation in New Cairo’s urban vitality and the accompanying social and economic phenomena

Many cities in Egypt have been built recently with spatial characteristics that differ structurally from the spatial configuration of the ancient Arab city.There is a growing interest in understanding how social and economic phenomena related to the community are transformed in new cities,particularly those that extend from the old city,as is the case with the city of New Cairo.We have developed an analytical framework to study the effects of spatial configuration on the pace of growth of the new city and identify its characteristics in terms of phenomena related to movement and the distribution of economic activities,as well as urban vitality.A framework for combining quantitative and qualitative analysis helps in understanding phenomena related to the morphology of the development of the new city.Using syntactic analysis,place syntax and field observation,the spatial characteristics of the city of New Cairo were investigated,then compared with Old Cairo to determine which features were enriched in terms of the city’s vitality or what has been lost during the expansion phases,based on the planning concepts that were applied.The study concluded that changes in the characteristics of the spatial configurations of the new Egyptian cities by increasing the flow of vehicular traffic via wide arterial roads do not reflect the requirements of the local community,but instead impede local movement within the city and reduce the integration of its neighbourhoods,turning them into isolated islands.The greatest impact of this is the way in which the characteristics of society in these cities have been limited,resulting in isolation and a lack of connection with the identity of the place and the customs and traditions of the community.This paper presents an analytical framework for evaluating similar cities in terms of the characteristics of this planning configuration,identifying the extent to which the old has been preserved or changed and emphasising the validity of the methodology by evaluating the characteristics of other new cities.

Quantitative Analysis of Spatial Vitality of Urban Built-up Area: A Case Study of Shenzhen

As an important goal of urban design research,the evaluation of urban spatial vitality has been widely concerned.Taking Shenzhen as an example,the urban built-up area of Shenzhen was identifi ed using improved DENsi-Graph analysis,from the perspective of quantifi cation of urban spatial morphological features.The accessibility of urban streets,degree of construction and architectural form,and degree of functional mixing were quantitatively analyzed through space syntax,space matrix and mixeduse index(MXI),and the spatial vitality of urban built-up area was evaluated.Research results demonstrated that the improved Densi-Graph analysis could better identify the built-up area of Shenzhen,and the overall classifi cation accuracy was 0.810.The analysis results of spatial vitality showed that the urban spatial vitality in Shenzhen urban built-up area was well created.The street accessibility of Shenzhen generally hindered the creation of urban vitality;the spatial matrix value in the north of Shenzhen urban built-up area was lower;and the MXI of most areas within the study area was above the medium.

The Role and Heterogeneity of Visual Pollution on the Quality of Urban Landscape Using GIS;Case Study: Historical Garden in City of Maraqeh

The urban landscape heterogeneity has been influenced by the visual, unpleasant and unacceptable face of which there is no charm in it. The present study is formed according to visual pollution and its impact on the appearance and vitality of a city. Preliminary studies and theoretical studies led to the hypothesis with the following themes: 1) There is relationship between the pollution, heterogeneity and visual disturbances urban landscape and urban vitality;2) Improving the quality, aesthetics and identity of public spaces will increase urban vitality. Therefore, the design process within the theoretical principles, concepts, television and urban landscape, urban art, visual pollution aspects (color, light, and visual symbol) and the quality of urban vitality and explain causal relationships, analytical framework developed and more samples case (garden historic town of Maraqeh1) and the area under study were selected using GIS. After designing the questionnaire to evaluate the objectives, assumptions and questions of research and its analysis, the results indicate that the relationship between visual pollution and urban vitalitys, as well as proving hypotheses and vitality after the final analysis, model was introduced based on the components of comfort visual editing and proposed at three levels: micro, middle and macro for objectives, strategies and policies to regulate visual pollution and improve the aesthetic quality of the environment and the promotion of vitality.

Influence of built environment and user experience on the waterfront vitality of historical urban areas: A case study of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, China

Urban waterfronts are important gateways that reflect a city’s image and characteristics.Evaluating waterfront vitality and its influencing factors is critical for guiding urban waterfront planning and redevelopment.Hourly human movement data,provided by the Baidu Heatmap,were used to explore the weekday and weekend urban vitality spatial distribution characteristics of the waterfronts of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing.Global(ordinary least squares)and local(multiscale geographically weighted regression)models revealed the influence of physicaleenvironmental characteristics(objective)and spatial experience evaluation factors(subjective)on urban vitality.(1)The Qinhuai River waterfront urban vitality agglomeration characteristics were similar between weekdays and weekends,and the core vitality areas were distributed in the dense tourism,commercial,and residential areas along the river.(2)The evaluation of catering experience had the strongest positive correlation with vitality,whereas the waterfront distance had the strongest negative correlation.(3)The influence of each factor on waterfront vitality in the study area exhibited considerable spatial differences,with attenuation trends observed from the east-to-west river sections.This study shows the urban vitality distribution characteristics of the Qinhuai River waterfront spaces.Exploring the influence of physicaleenvironmental and spatial evaluation factors on the vitality distribution can provide a scientific basis and reference for urban waterfront planning and redevelopment focusing on cultivating vitality.

Unveiling the potential of space syntax approach for revitalizing historic urban areas:A case study of Yushan Historic District,China

Historic urban areas are a crucial component of urban heritage,embodying the collective memory of urban development and possessing distinctive urban textures and cultural attributes.However,the growing impact of globalization on the urban environment poses challenges to historic urban areas,including diminishing social recognition,aging infrastructure,loss of vitality,and cultural erosion.To address these challenges,this study proposes a novel approach to revitalizing historic urban areas by employing space syntax methodology.The study focuses on Yushan Historic District in China as a case study and uses spatial models within space syntax to describe,analyze,and interpret its urban morphology.The objective is to enhance urban vitality while preserving the heritage fabric of historic urban areas.Additionally,it aims to contribute to the advancement of space syntax research,specifically in the context of urban renewal and revitalization of historic districts.The findings reveal the spatial factors that contribute to the generation of vitality within the district,identify areas requiring intervention,and provide strategies for revitalizing historic urban areas.This study demonstrates the potential of utilizing a space syntax approach in urban revitalization,providing valuable guidance for effectively conserving urban heritage within the context of urban renewal.

An investigation of the visual features of urban street vitality using a convolutional neural network

As a well-known urban landscape concept to describe urban space quality,urban street vitality is a subjective human perception of the urban environment but difficult to evaluate directly from the physical space.The study utilized a modern machine learning computer vision algorithm in the urban build environment to simulate the process,which starts with the visual perception of the urban street landscape and ends with the human reaction to street vitality.By analyzing the optimized trained model,we tried to identify urban street vitality’s visual features and evaluate their importance.A region around the Mochou Lake in Nanjing,China,was set as our study area.Seven investigators surveyed the area,recorded their evaluation score on each site’s vitality level with a corresponding picture taken on site.A total of 370 pictures and recorded score pairs from 231 valid survey sites were used to train a convolutional neural network.After optimization,a deep neural network model with 43 layers,including 11 convolutional ones,was created.Heat maps were then used to identify the features which lead to high vitality score outputs.The spatial distributions of different types of feature entities were also analyzed to help identify the spatial effects.The study found that visual features,including human,construction site,shop front,and roadside/walking pavement,are vital ones that correspond to the vitality of the urban street.The consistency of these critical features with traditional urban vitality features indicates the model had learned useful knowledge from the training process.Applying the trained model in urban planning practices can help to improve the city environment for better attraction of residents’activities and communications.

The building blocks of walkability: Pedestrian activity in Abu Dhabi city center

This study develops an empirical approach that underlines the effect of land use mix and development grain on pedestrian movement in the streets and public spaces of urban neighborhoods.The study begins with the end in mind;it compares two urban sectors in Abu Dhabi city with broadly recognized contrasting levels of pedestrian movement.The research works backward to identify the combination of built environment attributes that result in differing levels of pedestrian activity between the eastern and western sectors of Abu Dhabi city center.Using Geographic Information Systems maps/data files,direct observations,and field metrics,the study computes various indices related to land use mix,density,and street connectivity for Abu Dhabi central business district.The findings of this study highlight the land use,spatial and street network configurations that enhance pedestrian activity in urban centers.From a local perspective,the research outcome would inform future visions aimed at transforming the city of Abu Dhabi into a global metropolis that provides its citizens and visitors with unique and vibrant urban settings conducive to intra-and inter-neighborhood walkability.