Using Big Data for a Comprehensive Evaluation of Urban Vitality: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China

Urban vitality is a key concern for contemporary urban development. Existing studies have mainly focused on the impact of the built environment on urban vitality, while sociodemographic factors have been largely overlooked. There are also few studies on the typology of urban vitality in different urban settings. This study develops a new comprehensive indicator system to evaluate the influence of urban form, urban function and sociodemographic factors on urban vitality. Guangzhou is used as a case study, since it is a historical and commercial city with diverse vibrant urban areas. Big Datasets used in this research include Baidu Huiyan dataset, OSM road network data, building information data, and the POI dataset. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and regression analysis have also been conducted to understand the impact of key factors (urban form, urban function, and sociodemographic) on urban vitality in different types of neighborhoods. The study identifies a weak correlation between urban function and vitality, but a strong relationship between urban form, sociodemographic and vitality. Key indicators such as building density, floor area ratio, intersection density and high-income population density are positively correlated with vitality, while they have different effects on various vibrant neighborhoods. This research provides planning implications for the improvement in urban vitality.