A Literature Review on the Assessment of Vitality and Its Theoretical Framework. Emerging Perspectives for Geodesign in the Urban Context

Vitality and Urbanity, as conditions for economic vibrancy and social diversity, are central objectives of policies for urban sustainable development. Vitality and urbanity are herein defined as distinctive urban qualities emerging from the combination of diverse practices, integrated into urban form and influencing the sense of place. The proposed study investigates the components of urban form that influence urbanity and vitality. A broad literature review on the formalization and operationalization of the concepts of urbanity and vitality is presented. The comparative analysis of selected articles investigates five aspects: i) conceptualization of urbanity and vitality; ii) identification of factors impacting urbanity and vitality; iii) definition of indicators and protocols; iv) co-relations among urban form factors and levels of vitality and urbanity and v) relevance and impact of investigated methodologies on planning processes. This study aims to define the theoretical foundation of a methodology that utilizes space syntax and spatial analysis techniques to address three issues related to sustainable urban development: clear representation of conditions of urbanity, understanding of criticalities and formulation of policies and strategies for reinforcing vibrant urban spaces. The proposed theoretical framework thus contributes to the application of the Geodesign paradigm to the urban realm by supporting the essential understanding of the spatial culture of a place.