Urban vitality in Palma
Urban vitality
Urban vitality indicates the capacity of the built environment to foster activities in public space. The JANE index, based on the theories of Jane Jacobs, is used to measure vitality.
The highest values of urban vitality cover 28% of the urban core of Palma. Vitality follows a polycentric model in which the highest values extend from the historic center to the ring road. There are also vital areas in Es Vivero, Es Secar de la Real, Sa Vileta and the coastal section of the municipality. The lowest vitality indexes are found in the periphery.
What does urban vitality depend on?
The degree of urban vitality is the result of various variables that make up the JANE index: spatial concentration, functional diversity, contact opportunities, building diversity, accessibility, and distance to boundary elements.
Spatial concentration
Palma is a city that concentrates a large number of residential, commercial and equipment activities.
Spatial concentration values are very high in the neighborhoods of Foners, Pere Garau, Bons Aires, Son Espanyolet, Son Dameto, Camp Rodó and in a large part of the historic center.
More peripheral neighborhoods such as Son Roca, Es Secar de la Real, Sa Vileta and Coll d’en Rabassa contain small nodes of high spatial concentration.
The Vía de Cintura, industrial zones and natural elements such as hills and streams explain the low values in the periphery.
Functional diversity
Palma is a diverse city, where different uses and activities coexist in almost the entire municipality.
16% of the urban core has a high functional diversity.
The highest values are found in the old town, although functional diversity is not an exclusive characteristic of the city center.
Contact opportunity
The opportunities for contact and interaction in the streets of Palma present a center-periphery pattern.
Contact opportunities are high in the 10% of the urban core.
The Vía de Cintura delimits the areas with the greatest opportunity for contact. The coastline and the neighborhood of Sa Vileta, in the west, also have high values.
Diversity of buildings
In Palma there is a great diversity of buildings. The center, with an urban fabric of medieval origin, has buildings from very different periods, with a difference of more than 500 years between the time of construction of the various buildings.
In small neighborhoods on the periphery there are also high values of building diversity. The neighborhoods of Coll d’en Rabassa, el Molinar, Sa Vileta and el Terreno are some examples.
Accessibility
Accessibility is high in 21.5% of the urban nucleus of Palma.
The city has high accessibility in the central and northern neighborhoods of the city. In contrast, the eastern and western suburbs have medium and low accessibility.
Border elements
In Palma, the elements that act as barriers to social contact in the public space are road infrastructures and river courses. This is the case of the Vía de Cintura and the Sa Riera and na Bàrbara torrents.
Location map
