Urban Vitality And Temporary Memory In Tokyo’s Shopping Streets: A Quantitative Pre-Covid-19 Study

Abstract

This study analyzes urban vitality as a dynamic socio-spatial phenomenon linked to the temporal memory of commercial streets (sh?tengai) in Tokyo, Japan. Based on the quantitative relationship between pedestrian activity and physical elements of the built environment, hierarchical cluster analysis and multiple discriminant analysis were applied to twenty representative cases. Three states of urban vitality were identified (passive, active, and accelerated) defined by hourly variations in variables such as open shops, urban furniture, and signage. The results suggest that vitality does not depend exclusively on permanent architecture, but rather on the everyday repetition of usage patterns and on semi-permanent visual cues that shape a temporal memory of space, making it possible to identify urban conditions favorable to social interaction and local commerce. The manuscript thus presents the implementation of a proprietary and replicable quantitative methodology that allows for observing how certain combinations of variable factors can contribute to differentiating states of urban vitality. It also offers insights for potential future applications as a tool to support design decisions.