Urban Vibrancy in Roma’s Neighbourhoods: A Case Study

In the era of the data revolution (Kitchin, 2014), the availability of new data and sources makes it possible to study social phenomena in an innovative manner. The increasing availability of geolocalized data, in particular, has made it possible to jointly analyze two dimensions previously considered incompatible, such as the online and offline world (De Falco et al., 2021). With different approaches (De Falco et al., 2022), the study of urban phenomena has thus found a new life: the classical concepts of urban studies, such as urban vibrancy (Humphrey, 2020) can be analyzed more effectively. Urban Vibrancy refers to a dynamic phenomenon concerning the variety, intensity, and distribution of human activities in urban areas. Urban vibrancy is influenced by spatial characteristics, such as attractiveness, liveability, and safety. Because the absence of urban vibrancy might be an indicator of urban degradation, from the perspective of building efficient smart cities, understanding it is fundamental for policymakers to better manage urban space. Analyzing urban vibrancy through traditional sources is difficult because the dynamic nature of the phenomenon requires data sources that are constantly updated and have high levels of granularity. These data are represented by multisource urban sensing data, a type of big data that enables the study of urban territories. The aim of this work is to analyze the level of urban vibracy of Roma's neighborhoods and to investigate its relationship with their morphological and socioeconomic characteristics. Rome is an interesting case study due to the complexity of its territory characterized by non-existent borders and trans-territorial communities (Lenzi et al., 2021)