Spatial mismatches between nighttime light intensity and building morphology in Shanghai, China

China's rapid urbanization is not only the expansion of urban land, but also the three-dimensional expansion of buildings, which are physical expansion of the city. However, whether urban social and economic activities and urban vitality match the physical expansion of cities is still unclear. Taking Shanghai as an example, we acquired the high-resolution (130 m) nighttime light (NTL) data to quantify urban vitality. We further calculated building metrics to measure spatial pattern of buildings. We adopted the spatial autocorrelation analysis to investigate the spatial (mis)matches between the urban vitality and the building morphology. We identified 5 types of typical mismatched areas in Shanghai. Areas with Low-NTL but High-density buildings mainly are old communities, resettlement communities and large industrial parks. Areas with High-NTL but Low-density buildings mainly are new urban development zones and sub-centers. We conclude that the degradation of quality of living environment in urban center areas hinders the promotion of local vitality where urban renewal is needed. In suburbs, strengthening the construction of public service infrastructure is the key to stimulating urban vitality.