Exploring the relationship between urban vitality and the distribution of amenity typologies

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Date
2019
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AESOP
Abstract
The availability of large datasets containing spatiotemporal information about human mobility in cities can reveal useful insights about how people use urban space across different times, and be employed to improve urban qualities. Urban vitality represents a critical quality, strictly related to the continuity of the presence of people in places. Vitality may be significantly driven by the types of amenities distributed in the city. This work explores the quantitative relationship between urban vitality and the variety of amenities in London, employing datasets sourced from smart cards, social media and activity location. Vitality is calculated as the temporal variation of patterns in the presence of people in a place. It is compared with the amenity typologies located in such place, combined through a clustering analysis of the spatial distribution of amenities across the city. Results suggest that urban vitality increases in areas with a variety of typologies acting in synergy to attract people, rather than in areas characterised by a predominance of a specific type of activities. This paper enhances the theory-informed quantitative understanding of urban space, integrating data analysis methods with urban planning: this approach has significant potential for informing robust and holistic policy and decision-making.
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urban vitality, urban amenities, cluster analysis, spatial distribution
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