Temporary Urbanism in Action: Theme–Neighborhood (Mis)alignment and Visitor Response in Beijing Pop-up Markets

Abstract

Pop-up markets are increasingly deployed as temporary urban-regeneration tools, yet their capacity to deliver community benefits beyond mere commerce remains uncertain. This study mapped 447 Beijing pop-ups (Dec 2023–Nov 2024) and analysed 25 cases for market-neighbourhood fit. Fifteen-minute walking isochrones intersected Gaode POIs, land-use entropy and VIIRS night-lights; while Xiaohongshu posts provided popularity and satisfaction metrics. Theme vectors for both markets and neighbourhoods were derived via Word2Vec; their cosine similarity measured thematic alignment. Results show that while 80% markets align closely with local amenities, those with greater thematic divergence often achieve higher visitor satisfaction (p<0.05). Community-driven, experimentally themed pop-ups can thus act as low-risk prototypes for augmenting neighbourhood services and deepening civic engagement.