sustainability Article Spatial Explicit Assessment of Urban Vitality Using Multi-Source Data: A Case of Shanghai, China Wenze Yue 1,2 , Yang Chen 1 , Qun Zhang 1,3 and Yong Liu 4,* 1 Department of Land management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China;
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[email protected] (Q.Z.) 2 Department of Urban Land, Laboratory of Rural-Urban Construction Land Economical and Intensive Use, Beijing 100812, China 3 Land Planning Department, Shanghai Institute of Geological Survey, Shanghai 200072, China 4 School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 15 December 2018; Accepted: 22 January 2019; Published: 26 January 2019 Abstract: Identifying urban vitality in large cities is critical for optimizing the urban fabric. While great attention has been paid to urban vitality in developed countries, related studies have been rarely conducted in developing countries. In this study, we defined urban vitality as the capacity of an urban built environment to boost lively social activities and developed a framework for measuring urban vitality using the dimensions of built environment, human activities, and human–environment interaction. Taking Shanghai, China as a case, we conducted a measurement of urban vitality using multi-source data. The results show that Shanghai follows a monocentric vital pattern within the outer ring road, with urban vitality declining from the central urban core to the city periphery. While the old urban cores tend to show high urban vitality, Pudong New Area is mostly dominated by low vitality. Three clusters with high urban vitality were identified: the old urban area, the Lujiazui CBD, and residential agglomeration areas.