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• Assess urban disaster vulnerability from the perspective of elements at risk. • Discover the spatial difference of urban disaster vulnerability. • Reveal the spatial heterogeneity of urban disaster vulnerability. • Overcome data and space limitations of traditional vulnerability assessment methods. With the rapid development of global urbanization, cities tend to suffer higher frequencies and risks of various hazards and are becoming more vulnerable, especially under the circumstance of global warming. Hence, people have begun to attach importance to the study of urban disaster vulnerability gradually. However, existing studies focus more on the multi-dimensional expression and comprehensive measurement of disaster vulnerability at the macro scale, which cannot reflect the changes of disaster vulnerability within the small scale. It is difficult for the research results to provide practical information for accurate disaster prevention and reduction. For this purpose, this study proposed a framework for refined urban disaster vulnerability assessment from the perspective of elements at risk, which includes three quantitative models: exposure assessment model, sensibility assessment model, and coping capability assessment model. Then, the framework and its quantitative models were applied to assess the disaster vulnerability of Dalian at the scale of 30 × 30 m grid. Furthermore, the main factors contributing to vulnerability were highlighted based on of exposure, sensibility, and coping capability indexs. Results showed that the disaster vulnerability of Dalian was autocorrelative and heterogeneous spatially. This research could provides some implications for disaster mitigation and risk reduction strategies at the urban scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]