The loss of urban vitality is an important problem in the development of urban central areas. Analyzing the correlation between urban built environment and urban vitality supports urban planning and design. However, current research excludes the study of how consistent built environment factors affect urban vitality of cities with different development situations. Therefore, using social media check-in data, this paper measures neighborhood vibrancy in urban central areas in Beijing and Chengdu, China. Four levels of spatial information were used to measure the built environment: regulatory planning management unit (RPMU), land use, road network, and building. Regression model is used to quantify the correlation between urban vitality and the built environment of these two cities. The study found a strong correlation between built environment factors and urban vitality. Among the built environment factors, points of interest (POI) diversity and public transport accessibility indicators were strongly positively correlated with neighborhood vibrancy. However, the density indicators had totally different effects on urban vitality of cities with different development situations, which is excluded in existing studies. This research strengthens the practical understanding of the compact city concept, and can support the design and planning of urban built environment.
Keywords: built environment; heterogeneous patterns; regression analyses; social media check-in data; urban vitality.