Abstract

Some authors argue that urban vitality encourages sociability among inhabitants. However, this literature concentrates its analysis on the attributes of the built environment, such as density or the diversity of land uses, without considering effective practices or the influence of sociodemographic factors on neighborhood sociability. This article seeks to deepen this relationship, analyzing indicators identified by the literature as necessary conditions for urban vitality, contrasting them with neighborhood sociability variables such as neighborhood use, public familiarity, network neighborliness and sociability among neighbors, and with sociodemographic indicators for the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile. In addition to finding an important influence of sociodemographic factors, a more complex relationship between urban vitality and neighborhood sociability is identified, revealing the need to rethink the concept for the reality of Latin American metropolises.