Urban Vitality Conditions and Neighborhood Satisfaction in a Latin American City: The Case of Santiago de Chile
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 149, Issue 3
Abstract
Urban vitality and neighborhood satisfaction are areas of great interest within the field of urban studies, as a measure of the attractiveness of a city and as an evaluation that residents make of their living environments. Using survey and geospatial data from the Longitudinal Social Study of Chile (2019) and the JANE Index (2021), this study performs regression analysis to examine the relationship between urban vitality and neighborhood satisfaction. Through a set of variables that evaluate the neighborhood such as safety, connectivity, green and recreational areas, cleanliness and beauty, proximity to the main activity, and proximity to commercial areas, we analyze the relationship with six conditions for urban vitality. These conditions are features objectively measured from the built environment, which provide information about concentration of people and buildings, diversity in land use, contact opportunity provided by the urban fabric, presence of old buildings, accessibility to the public transport, and the distance to large infrastructures that act as border vacuums for people. The results show that most conditions for urban vitality are significant predictors of neighborhood satisfaction. Not all components of urban vitality, however, are positively associated with higher neighborhood satisfaction, as attributes such as concentration and satisfaction with green and recreational areas in the neighborhood are in fact negatively correlated. Conclusions show the importance of including subjective factors in projects meant to transform the built environment in search of increased vitality.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the research support provided by CEDEUS, ANID FONDAP 1522A0002. This work was funded by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2020–72210253. This paper was funded by the project PID2019-104344RB-I00 funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Oriol Marquet is funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC-2020-029441-I) awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 149 • Issue 3 • September 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Sep 2, 2022
Accepted: Mar 16, 2023
Published online: May 4, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Oct 4, 2023
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