The Relationship between Urban Vibrancy and Built Environment: An Empirical Study from an Emerging City in an Arid Region

Runde Fu, Xinhuan Zhang, Degang Yang, Tianyi Cai and Yufang Zhang
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Runde Fu: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Xinhuan Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Degang Yang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Tianyi Cai: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Yufang Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-20

Abstract: Creating a vital and lively urban environment is an inherent requirement of urban sustainable development, and understanding urban vibrancy is helpful for urban development policy making. The urban vibrancy theory needs more empirical supplementation and more evidence for the effect of the built environment on urban vibrancy. We use multisource urban spatial information data, including real-time population distribution (RPD) data and small catering business (SCB) data; quantitatively measure urban vibrancy; and build a comparative framework to explore the effect of the built environment on the urban vibrancy of a northwestern emerging city in China. The results demonstrate that the two urban vibrancy metrics present a spatial distribution pattern that is high in the south and low in the north areas of the city with significant spatial aggregation. Land-use intensity and diversity have strong positive effects on urban vibrancy but present a different pattern of effects on the two vibrancy measures. The influences on urban vibrancy of distance to the district center and distance to the nearest commercial complex are spatially complementary in the study area, and the effect of accessibility factors is weak. Our findings suggest that a somewhat cautious approach is required in the application of these classical planning theories to Urumqi.

Keywords: urban vibrancy; built environment; influence; GWR; multi-source data; Urumqi (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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