Amid global urban transition from sprawling expansion to stock-oriented regeneration, exploring the spatiotemporal heterogeneity and mechanisms of urban spatial vitality in old urban areas is crucial for advancing sustainable urban renewal and enhancing human well-being. This study builds a built environment index system, taking the old urban areas of Wuwei City, China, as a case study, and employs the MGWR model to analyze spatial vitality and its drivers. Results show: (1) Diverse functional elements exhibit significant spatiotemporal variations, with basic living facilities having stable impacts, while cultural and catering facilities show morning local agglomeration and nighttime region-wide driving effects, respectively. (2) Regarding accessibility, the road network is a key spatial factor. It shows a positive statistical association with regional vitality during the day, but may correlate with traffic and environmental stress at night. This indicates a potential trade-off between commercial activity and residential comfort across different time periods. (3) Spatial quality elements show strong spatial stability. Specifically, floor area ratio and open space ratio exhibit positive statistical associations with vitality, while building density and height tend to show negative correlations. This may reflect structural bottlenecks imposed by high-density development on sustainable living spaces. (4) Strategies like micro-functional layouts, day-night differentiated traffic networks, and spatial chassis optimization are proposed to provide quantitative evidence for sustainable stock-oriented regeneration, balancing heritage conservation with modern urban vitality.
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Zhan et al. (2026) studied this question.
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