ANALYST PATTERNS OF INFLUENCE BETWEEN A COMMERCIAL

DISTRIBUTION AND NEIGHBOURHOOD DYNAMIC IN A

RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBOURHOOD

BOWEN CHEN1 , PUI KUAN LAO2 , ZHIYI DOU3, WAI-SHAN

QIU4 and DAN LUO*5
1,2,3,5
The University of Queensland.
4
Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University.
1
b.chen1@uqconnect.edu.au, 0000-0003-4387-5379
2
p.lao@uqconnect.edu.au, 0000-0001-9523-3525
3
zhiyi.dou95@gmail.com, 0000-0002-0356-144X
4
wq43@cornell.edu, 0000-0001-6461-7243
5
d.luo@uq.edu.au, 0000-0003-1760-0451

Abstract. The spatial distribution of urban commercial spaces

significantly impacts the overall efficiency and vibrancy of adjacent
neighbourhoods. As such, it is an important factor to consider during
urban development. This study aims to examine the patterns of impact
between commercial distributions and neighbourhood dynamics in a
residential neighbourhood, based on the case study of a highly
populated, thriving commercial, and culturally rich area situated in
Mong Kok, Hong Kong. In this research, a series of numeric
evaluations and statistical analyses of liveability and vibrancy metrics
are presented, uncovering the tension created by existing commercial
forms and local living patterns. This research started with multi-
dimensional data mining, such as accessing planning data using
Geographic Information Systems (GIS), perception data using Street
View Images (SVI), and business performance data from Google;
secondly, analysing the data via machine learning (ML) algorithm and
statistical correlation to identify correlations overlaid with a mapping
of spaces of measurable characteristics. The goal is to establish a
measurable evaluation of the relationship between commercial
vibrance and urban features that can further inform the impact of
urban design strategies on fostering the vitality of community
commercial centres.

Keywords. Mong Kok, Model Learning Machine (ML), SVM,

PSPnet, MaskRCNN, POI, Commercial Vibrance, Heatmap
Correlation, Visualization, QGIS, Google Maps Information

1. Introduction
A vibrant residential neighbourhood in urban analysis is commonly defined as a place
that shows diverse and frequent consumer activities (Wang et al., 2021). For instance,

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526 B. CHEN ET AL.

many researchers have found that the growth of commercial activities is significantly
faster within transportation corridors than outside of them (Ma et al., 2023; Abe et al.,
2014; Foth, 2010). Commercial vibrancy is traditionally seen as a broad measure of
urban success; however, cities have specific needs that must be met to ensure
successful spatial development and community vitality. Every city has its own unique
set of requirements that must be taken into consideration when evaluating its
economic health and overall well-being. It is essential to recognise the individual
needs of each city and make specific requirements to ensure their long-term
prosperity. Some papers in recent years, such as the one by Liu, Gou, and Xiong
(2022), have focused on utilising cultural politics or demographics to evaluate urban
vitality. However, as urban planners, our qualities are those related to land use,
amenities, and infrastructure. This article will concentrate on a more granular
approach to urban vibrancy, rather than considering it as a general concept, our
research aims to identify the specific characteristics that make up each type of urban
form. By doing so, we hope to gain a better understanding of the nuances of urban
vibrancy and the ways in which it can be enhanced.
Through an examination of Mong Kok’s urban context, this article seeks to
understand how the different commercial forms of Mong Kok contribute to and shape
the city’s infrastructure and design quality. The findings of this research have the
potential to provide valuable insight into the dynamics of urban planning and
development. The study identified six commercial types, of which one has three
different evaluation metrics. A quality measurement was then created for each type of
business form, providing a comprehensive understanding of the strengths and
weaknesses of each option. This will enable business owners to make an informed
decision when selecting a business structure that is best suited to their individual
needs. A comprehensive research project was conducted in which forty different
urban features were collected and analysed. A regression model was then used to
investigate the relationship between various business forms and the aforementioned
urban features. The results of the study provide valuable insight into how different
business forms can be impacted by a variety of urban features.

2. Study Area
A case study was conducted in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, to validate this approach. It
is located on the Kowloon Peninsula's southern tip (Xue et al., 2001). The area is
densely populated, with a population density of 130,000 people per square kilometre
(Aranda-Mena et al., 2018). Mong Kok is a popular tourist destination for both local
and foreign visitors. It is a place that combines features of old and new, east and west.
The district is home to several markets, including the Flower Market, the Goldfish
Market, and the Jade Market (Aranda-Mena et al., 2018). Mong Kok is also a food-
lover’s paradise, with a wide variety of restaurants and street food stalls, making it a
busy and vibrant area. As a transport hub, Mong Kok has a comprehensive and
diverse transport network. As demonstrated in Figure 1 and Figure 2, Mong Kok is
the most representative of Hong Kong's traditional urban civilization, with complex
land use and a diverse urban structure when compared to other precincts.
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Figure 1: Classification of commercial POI in Mong Kok

Figure 2: The map shows an area of highly diverse buildings on the west side of Sai Yee Street

3. Methodology

3.1. WORKFLOW FRAMEWORK DIAGRAM

Figure 3：Workflow of research and analysing methodology

Figure 3 clarifies the overall workflow. The research starts with data collection,
which narrows down the primitive 18,000 datum points that are computed from
QGIS and Google Maps. Then for augmenting data, a variety of features including
street view detection, restaurant detail and purchasing mode are extracted via
different urban analysis models, which are calculated and assigned as attributes
according to their proximity and are integrated into the CSV file. Eight attributes are
528 B. CHEN ET AL.

selected as the qualities reflecting commercial vibrance, and the correlation between
qualities and urban attributes is tested via Model Learning Machine. Following the
above procedure, in order to distribute attributes, the most important urban features
for each quality are defined, and an integral heatmap is computed for revealing the
overall correlation. In order to better convey the findings, the final visualization step
is to describe graphical views of the analysed data.

3.2. DATA COLLECTION

As shown in Figure 4, for collecting additional data, four categories are defined
based on their different research methodologies.

Figure 4: Four approaches of data extraction

3.3.1 Purchasing mode attributes (First row in Figure 4)

“Supermarket”, “Grocery”, “Variety Store”, “Health Facility”, and “Pharmacy” have
been detected as the main five representative categories of Mong Kok’s purchasing
action, which also encapsulate the daily routines of purchasing behaviours. These
shopping modes are analysed via Octoparse, creating a pagination loop with AJAX
Load and selecting the expected sections (Supermarket, Grocery, etc,.) enabling
Octoparse to scrape the targeted information, then to split the whole CSV file into
five individual ones and input them into QGIS for further analysis.

3.3.2 Restaurants detail attributes (Second row in Figure 4)

The great prosperity and high diversity of restaurants are reckoned as one of the
biggest features of Mong Kok district, which directly reflects the status of
commercial distribution in this district. A 100 x 100 m grid with 54 nodes was
created in QGIS, and the radius was set to be 142 m (100√2m) to cover the whole
research area. By applying Google Maps with coordinates and radius in the URL,
information about restaurant rating count, rating levels, and price levels were
collected and saved in CSV. By manually culling duplicated items, 1156 restaurants’
information could be processed to the next step.
The theory of assigning the targeted attributes to datum points is based on the
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vicinity between target points and datum points. For restaurants, a buffer zone with a
radius of 50 m is created at each datum point, and for purchasing modes, a radius of
100 m is applied; values of the feature points that fall into this circle are calculated,
and the mean value is appended at the end of the table as a new field of attribute. The
same steps are processed for each datum point, and its urban values are extended by
analysing the performance of nearby restaurants and purchasing modes.

3.3.3 Datum data and Basic attributes (Third row in Figure 4)

18,000 geographic points in Hong Kong are collected via the Quantum Geographic
Information System (QGIS) based on the rule of “every 20 metres, one point." Then,
by using Google Maps and Python coding, a variety of urban features of these points
were computed. Besides the geographic coordinates (longitude and latitude) and the
distance, several other features are also detected, digitised into numbers, and added to
the table as quantifiable attributes for further analysis. These features contain the
counting type, the price type, and the distance type. Then 300 points are selected from
Yau Tsim Mong (217) and Kowloon City (83) to cover the area-subjective and saved
in a CSV file.

3.3.4 Street View detection and processing (Forth row in Figure 4)

Based on the geographic coordinates from QGIS and the local road data, the CSV file
was read in Python codes, and the Street View Imagery (SVI) of each datum point
was processed. These screenshots were identified as "paths” in MaskRCNN and
PSPNet codes; targeted street features were defined in the code as “keywords” (Zhu
et al., 2021; Yang and Guo, 2022). These elements include buildings, sidewalks,
signboards, sky, roads, trees, plants, grass, wall, earth, and fence, which are the main
recognisable features; the values are reparameterized in decimals from the proportion
of the street view image and recorded in CSV.

3.3. MODEL TRAINING AND DISTRIBUTIONS ATTRIBUTES

Eight detected attributes are selected as the qualities to reflect the commercial
vibrance and reparameterized in the range of 0–1; these include the Rating, Count,
and Price of restaurants and the counts of POI, Grocery, Hotels, Airbnb and
Supermarkets. Detected elements from Image segmentation and other physical
features are tested as inputs into Machine Learning Model to reveal the correlation
between existing physical conditions and subjective commercial vibrance
(Nugrahaeni and Mutijarsa, 2016, Qiu et al., 2021).
Figure 5 shows the types and the results of model learning machines, which test
R2, RMSE, and MAE for each of the eight qualities, and Figure 6 contains eight sub-
figures sorted by the eight qualities, which show the ranking of urban features in
terms of their importance. Figure 7 shows the correlation in the heatmap (Gu et al.,
2016), which demonstrates that the distribution of Airbnb, Hotel, and POI are deemed
to be highly correlated in terms of the commercial vibrance in the context of the
Mong Kok district, but the bus station leaves a negative correlation to those three
qualities. The distance to the metro and the distance to the city centre negatively
correlate with all the commercial vibrance-defined eight qualities; clearly the more
530 B. CHEN ET AL.

remote and with poor transport connections a place becomes, the less vibrant it will
be in terms of a commercial environment. While the density of bus stations is the
most important factor for the three tourist features (Airbnb, Hotel, POI), it presents a
negative correlation with them.

Figure 5: Nine Model Learning Machines about the correlation between features and qualities

Figure 6: Result of feature importance from Model Learning Machine

Figure 7: Heatmap correlation between 8 qualities of commercial vibrance and urban features
 ANALYST PATTERNS OF INFLUENCE BETWEEN A 531
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4. Results

4.1. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMERCIAL VIBRANCY AND

URBAN PUBLIC FEATURES

Figure 8: The distribution of the five most important urban public features

Through the above analysis and testing, five out of eight urban qualities show the
significance in influencing urban vibrance, Figure 8 presents the condition of Mong
Kok in terms of the five urban qualities.
Different types of businesses have different needs and therefore require different
urban layouts to accommodate them. The findings of Figure 9 indicate that the area of
Mong Kok in Hong Kong has a positive relationship between the number of
restaurants and the distance to the nearest metro station. This is indicative of the
importance of the metro station for commercial activity in Mong Kok and suggests
that the metro station is an integral part of the local economy. The proximity of a
restaurant to public transportation also has a major influence on the prices that
restaurants charge. In general, restaurants located closer to metro stations tend to have
higher prices than those located further away. This is because customers who are
closer to public transportation are more likely to frequent the restaurant, resulting in
higher demand and, therefore, higher prices. Additionally, restaurants located further
away from public transportation may be able to offer lower prices since they are less
likely to receive as much traffic. The correlation figures also indicate that there is a
strong relationship between the proximity of a restaurant to transportation links and
the city centre and the reviews the restaurant receives. This suggests that restaurants
located close to transportation links and the city centre can benefit from increased
visibility and accessibility, resulting in more positive reviews from customers.
Furthermore, this could lead to an increase in customer satisfaction, resulting in
improved business performance.
Moreover, as seen in Figure 10, the bustling district of Mong Kok has been found
to have a positive correlation between the number of supermarkets and their
proximity to the metro, the elderly facilities, and the city centre. As the proximity to
these areas increases, so does the number of supermarkets. This is beneficial for both
businesses and consumers, as it ensures easy access to products and services for the
elderly who may not be able to travel far, as well as those living near the centre who
can conveniently access a variety of stores. Furthermore, this association between
supermarkets and metro stations helps to create a more vibrant and diverse
atmosphere in the area. On the contrary, the most crucial aspect of the number of
grocery stores in Mong Kok is their proximity to the city centre. The number of bus
stations is the second significant element, while the distance to the Metro is the third,
which is the inverse of the key feature for restaurants. The easy access to fresh food
532 B. CHEN ET AL.

and other essential items that grocery stores provide is essential for the well-being of
the city's citizens. Having grocery stores that are conveniently located close to the city
centre ensures that individuals can access these necessities quickly and easily, saving
time and money. The number of grocery stores and their proximity to the city centre
are thus key factors in providing a healthy and prosperous environment for the
citizens of the city. The money that it generates goes back into local businesses,
which support local communities and help them grow in size over time. This means
that people living in these communities are employed locally, which helps to keep
crime levels low and helps to strengthen community bonds between residents.

Figure 9: Distribution of commercial industry based on the distance to the metro

Figure 10: Metro distribution and Set "Distance to city centre, Supermarket and Grocery"

Figure 11: POI distribution and Set "Airbnb, Bus Station and Distance to centre"

The findings of Figure 11 also demonstrate that as the number of bus stops in Mong
Kok increases, the number of Airbnbs, hotels and POI located nearby decreases. This
could be due to a variety of factors, such as increased competition for tourists’
attention or an overall decrease in the demand for hotel and Airbnb accommodations
in Mong Kok. The decreased presence of Airbnb and hotels in certain areas may be
attributed to the higher population of permanent residents in those areas. With more
people living in these areas, there is a higher concentration of bus stations and other
public transportation options, resulting in fewer visitors and, subsequently, fewer
Airbnb and hotel accommodations. On this basis, it can be revealed that tourism
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accommodation usually depends upon transportation, but traffic planning always

facilitates the POI. Such a result has significant implications for urban planning and
tourism, as it suggests that public transportation could be a viable alternative for
travellers who are looking to stay in the region. It also indicates that local
policymakers should consider the potential effects of increased bus stops on the
tourism industry when making decisions about the allocation of resources.
The paper developed the correlation and statistical regression between different
commercial forms and urban contexts based on the above research methodology and
data analysis. In conclusion, different commercial qualities can be influenced by a
multiplicity of different urban contextual factors in terms of their vibrance. According
to Figure 6, these eight commercial qualities can be roughly classified into three
groups: the three dimensions of the restaurant and supermarket are sensitive to the
feature DM; grocery is more sensitive to the feature DC; and the other three tourism-
related qualities (Airbnb, hotel, and POI) are more reliant on the feature CS. It is
obvious that “distance to the metro” is the biggest factor that affects the catering
industry and supermarket distribution. Moreover, Airbnb, hotels, and points of
interest (POIs) are important components of the tourism industry. Their distribution is
more widespread in Mong Kok, and the most sensitive feature of these components is
the number of bus stops in the area, as this is key to ensuring that visitors can easily
reach their destinations in a dense area like Mong Kok. This is because buses can
access more areas than the metro, which typically follows a more limited route. Bus
stops are often placed in areas that are not easily accessible by the metro, allowing
individuals to travel to and from those locations.

5. Reflections

5.1. INCOMPLETENESS/ DISINTEGRATE OF SCRAPPABLE INFOR-

MATION
This research is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to transform the way we
understand and improve cities. The detailed data of the restaurant is sourced from
Google Maps rather than the professional UE App (User Experience Application);
therefore, some restaurants are unsourced due to their small scale or ordinariness,
which presents insufficiencies in food scoring and feedback per capita consumption.

5.2. HONG KONG’S FLUIDITY

Due to the high variability of government policies and commercial formats in Mong
Kok, the research objects and supporting data in this paper have certain time
limitations. There may still be undetected dismantlement and reconstruction projects.
Therefore, the results of this research merely reflect the current commercial
distribution and data collection in Mong Kok, Hong Kong.

5.3. LIMITATION AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

The analysing tools in this paper include Python coding, SVI with Image
segmentation PSPnet, MaskRCN, Octoparse, and Machine Learning Model etc.,
which themselves have certain limitations for data monitoring and capture. For
534 B. CHEN ET AL.

example, PSPnet and MarkRCN can only analyse the street images extracted from
Google Street View at a specific time, and the street images can only represent the
street conditions within the picture frame at a certain viewing height. The recognition
of objects in the analysis is also limited to some extent by the capacity of these tools,
which might lead to some inaccuracy in reflecting all target identification.
Although Hong Kong is a very distinctive setting, we may apply this commercial
reflection of urban activities technique in the future to assess the realistic natural
gathering of commercial vitality. This method could be used elsewhere and compared
to other cities to determine if there are differences in urban organisation or structure;
therefore, applying this technique to other cities is our next step.
Data Accesses: The data that support the findings of this study are available from
the corresponding author Dr Dan Luo, upon reasonable request.

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