Assessing the livability within the 15-minute city concept based on mobile phone data

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Tianqi, Jama, Teemu, Tenkanen, Henrikki
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Wang, Tianqi
Jama, Teemu
Tenkanen, Henrikki
author_facet Wang, Tianqi
Jama, Teemu
Tenkanen, Henrikki
contents Many cities promote walkability through concepts such as the compact city and 15-minute city to enhance urban livability, yet few methods link spatial walkability features to empirically measured livability and account for temporal dynamics. The method developed for this study uses mobile phone data from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Finland) to assess whether commonly used, literature-derived livability indicators (diversity, density, proximity, accessibility) predict observed human activity patterns across different times of day. We constructed two key dimensions of livability: attractiveness and walkability with quantifiable sub-indicators that were selected based on literature. Our analysis shows that walkability, and even more so the combined livability index, correlates with activity patterns, outperforming the pure attractiveness perspective. However, this relationship is temporally unstable, significantly weakening at night and fluctuating daily. Moreover, based on Geographically Weighted Regression analysis, our results reveal significant spatial variation in the relationship between livability and the intensity of human activities. The findings suggest that traditional urban planning goals, such as functional diversity to enhance walkability, contribute to livability but have a limited impact on the 15-minute city's overall sustainable mobility objectives, necessitating a larger-scale perspective and more functionally profiled approaches for urban development.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_14307
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Assessing the livability within the 15-minute city concept based on mobile phone data
Wang, Tianqi
Jama, Teemu
Tenkanen, Henrikki
Physics and Society
Computers and Society
Many cities promote walkability through concepts such as the compact city and 15-minute city to enhance urban livability, yet few methods link spatial walkability features to empirically measured livability and account for temporal dynamics. The method developed for this study uses mobile phone data from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Finland) to assess whether commonly used, literature-derived livability indicators (diversity, density, proximity, accessibility) predict observed human activity patterns across different times of day. We constructed two key dimensions of livability: attractiveness and walkability with quantifiable sub-indicators that were selected based on literature. Our analysis shows that walkability, and even more so the combined livability index, correlates with activity patterns, outperforming the pure attractiveness perspective. However, this relationship is temporally unstable, significantly weakening at night and fluctuating daily. Moreover, based on Geographically Weighted Regression analysis, our results reveal significant spatial variation in the relationship between livability and the intensity of human activities. The findings suggest that traditional urban planning goals, such as functional diversity to enhance walkability, contribute to livability but have a limited impact on the 15-minute city's overall sustainable mobility objectives, necessitating a larger-scale perspective and more functionally profiled approaches for urban development.
title Assessing the livability within the 15-minute city concept based on mobile phone data
topic Physics and Society
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.14307