Using locative social media and urban cartographies to identify and locate successful urban plazas

Abstract

Locative social media networks as open sources of data allow researchers and professionals to acknowledge which city places are preferred, used and livable. Following this hypothesis, this paper proposes a methodology to identify successful public spaces – plazas – through the location-based social media network Foursquare and to analyze their urban position using morphological and historical cartographies. The overall methodology comprises three stages. First, the most important cities of the province of Alicante were selected. Second, the most relevant plaza of each city was identified using data retrieved from the social network Foursquare. Finally, the location of each plaza is analyzed in relation to the historic center and the main axes of the city. Possible correlations between their urban location and their vibrant character were subsequently identified. Two findings have emerged from this study: (a) a strong spatial relationship exists between the most successful plazas and the historic city center, which reinforces their traditional social character; and (b) all plazas share two similar traits, their location within the urban network and their proximity to the main axes of the city.