Urban vitality in a medium-sized city: Insights from a spatial multi-criteria analysis

Abstract

Urban vitality reflects the intensity and diversity of every- day urban activities and their spatial distribution, serving as a key indicator for planning and managing cities. In medium-sized, post-socialist cities, spatial disparities in vitality often remain underexplored due to limited data integration and analytical tools. This study examines urban vitality in Niš, one of Serbia’s few medium-sized regional centres, using a spatial multi-criteria assessment that integrates socioeconomic, infrastructural, and spatial indicators. An entropy–TOPSIS multi-criteria model in- tegrated with GIS was applied to determine the relative importance of indicators and derive a composite urban vitality index across sixty-nine settlements. The analysis reveals pronounced intra-urban differences, highlighting areas of concentrated vitality as well as zones of relative functional and social weakness. Beyond mapping vitali- ty, the study identifies key indicators that most strongly influence urban vitality and provides insights into mon- itoring and enhancing vitality in similar urban contexts. The findings provide a transparent, spatially explicit framework to support evidence-based planning, targeted regeneration, and follow-up qualitative or participatory assessments in medium-sized cites.