Abstract
The study presented in this article adds to the body of research on the socio-cultural dimension of sustainable cit-ies by looking at the efforts of the City of Freiburg, Germany to create neighborhoods that acknowledge the im-portance of the social dimension of sustainable development. The research in this article is centered on evaluating the social responses of living in Freiburg’s two recognized sustainable neighborhoods Rieselfeld and Vauban. The study focuses on the motivational factors that prompted todays residents of the two neighborhoods to move there in the first place, their level of satisfaction living there now, and their perceived social interactions and level of community engagement. Result show that satisfaction with living in a place and reinforcing its assets through so-cial resiliency or livability can result in long-term community staying power. In general, there were few differences in preferences ratings of physical and social assets between the two communities. The levels of importance of so-cial factors contributing to place satisfaction and staying power were not significantly different in both neighbor-hoods. Having a “cluster” of social factors present that were important to residents contributed significantly to place satisfaction. In fact, survey results showed that it was these social factors that were seen as more important to place satisfaction than the physical attributes of sustainable developments.
Highlights
The study presented in this article adds to the body of research on the socio-cultural dimension of sustainable cities by looking at the efforts of the City of Freiburg, Germany to create neighborhoods or communities that acknowledge the social dimensions of sustainable development and strengthening social ecology by building robust social systems that lead to stronger and more resilient communities (Wheeler, 2012)
As pointed out by the vast amount of available literature and city officials, Freiburg took advantage of local circumstances, such as early interest in the green movement among its citizens, to engage in environmentally friendly and socially just policies building up social capital and fostering social sustainability
The city’s focus on public outreach and citizen participation was a decisive factor in directly establishing the social dimension of sustainable neighborhood development into the planning process of Rieselfeld and Vauban
Summary
The study presented in this article adds to the body of research on the socio-cultural dimension of sustainable cities by looking at the efforts of the City of Freiburg, Germany to create neighborhoods or communities that acknowledge the social dimensions of sustainable development and strengthening social ecology by building robust social systems that lead to stronger and more resilient communities (Wheeler, 2012). The Rieselfeld and Vauban developments stand out in public discussion and academic literature on Freiburg’s efforts to become a more sustainable city They are considered “eco-neighborhoods” (Scheurer & Newman, 2009) with different interpretations and ideologies of sustainable community development as well as size and planning approaches. The article first discusses important literature in the area of sustainable social development This is followed by a description of Freiburg’s approach of becoming a more sustainable city and of the two neighborhoods of Rieselfeld and Vauban which are the focal point of this study. Section four presents the analysis of the survey data focusing on the motivational factors that prompted todays residents of Rieselfeld and Vauban to move there in the first place, their level of satisfaction living there and their perceived social interactions and level of community engagement
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