Urban vitality in a medium-sized cityVranic, Petar (Avtor) Vasilevska, Ljiljana (Avtor) Petkovski, Ivana (Avtor) urban vitalityGISmulti-criteria assessmentpost-socialist urban developmentNišUrban vitality reflects the intensity and diversity of everyday urban activities and their spatial distribution, serving as a key indicator for planning and managing cities. In medium-sized, post-socialist cities, spatial disparities in vitality often remain underexplored due to limited data integration and analytical tools. This study examines urban vitality in Niš, one of Serbia’s few medium-sized regional centres, using a spatial multi-criteria assessment that integrates socioeconomic, infrastructural, and spatial indicators. An entropy–TOPSIS multi-criteria model integrated with GIS was applied to determine the relative importance of indicators and derive a composite urban vitality index across sixty-nine settlements. The analysis reveals pronounced intra-urban differences, highlighting areas of concentrated vitality as well as zones of relative functional and social weakness. Beyond mapping vitality, the study identifies key indicators that most strongly influence urban vitality and provides insights into monitoring and enhancing vitality in similar urban contexts. The findings provide a transparent, spatially explicit framework to support evidence-based planning, targeted regeneration, and follow-up qualitative or participatory assessments in medium-sized cites.20262026-07-23 11:56:41Neznano31259UDK: 711.4ISSN pri članku: 0353-6483DOI: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-2026-37-1-2COBISS_ID: 283197187sl