Significance of Location Factors in Creating Sustainable Neighbourhoods in Developing Countries: Insights from Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Neighbourhoods across the globe are progressively gaining attention as key planning units with strong potential to contribute to sustainable development. Certification systems for sustainable neighbourhoods consist of quantifiable and measurable standards that are collectively used to evaluate and define development in terms of its environmental superiority and functionality. Resourceful location counting connectivity, accessibility and linkage is a principal objective in developing neighbourhoods enriched with public infrastructure systems. The focus of this study is on the evaluation of the degree to which a neighbourhood’s locational factors correlate with the sustainability of inhabitants’ contentment in the context of a developing nation. The evaluation methodology is based on the analytical comparison of three predominant urban neighbourhoods in Colombo and is articulated in three proceedings. First and foremost, the case neighbourhoods are introduced and locational attributes within their physical context are investigated. Secondly, the inhabitants’ perceptions and responses are acquired through the forms of interviews and acute observations to assess the enactment of location for each case. Finally, the cases are analytically compared, to evaluate the sustainable identity construed by its location. This defines the essential attributes of a scrupulous location in the aspects of land use, layout, connectivity, accessibility, and transport infrastructure for promising sustainability. This proposes guidelines for the selection of localities for workable neighbourhoods to resolve the matter from the designation of site and design.