Across the U.S., the familiar city model built around a Central Business District with residential neighborhoods around it is changing. Fewer people now organize their days around a single job center, influenced by remote and hybrid work, shifting retail habits, and evolving expectations about how and where time is spent. At this moment, revitalization can’t just mean filling empty offices or backfilling square footage. It calls for a closer look at how neighborhoods, streets, and buildings actually work together and, more importantly, what makes people want to show up, stay awhile, and return.
Developed in 2025 by SF New Deal and Gehl, the Vibrancy Index is a diagnostic tool designed to assess the health of urban environments at the ground-plane level. It combines direct observation, surveys, and spatial analysis to understand how people use a place, how it supports everyday activity, and how it is experienced by those who spend time there.
Vibrancy emerges from the ongoing interplay between energy and novelty—activity, diversity, and cultural expression—and belonging and care—the stewardship, inclusivity, and connection that sustain places over time.
Read more about the Vibrancy Index here.
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