Neighborhood Design Research Articles

Towards inclusive urban environments for infants and toddlers: Assessing four urban neighbourhoods in Istanbul with mothers

AbstractOne of the under‐represented groups in participatory urban research is very young children (0–3 years old). Very young children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, particularly in global cities, such as Istanbul, often have to negotiate unfriendly urban spaces in their daily routines. These routines consist of intertwined events of caregivers and children, as care duties of caregivers frame their joint daily lives. Based on questionnaires and participatory mapping with full‐time mothers from Istanbul, we argue that a compact design of neighbourhoods, which merges public spaces relevant to families with young children in combined destinations, is critical towards creating inclusive urban environments.

Comparative Review of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools

The paper aims to evaluate criteria for appraising the existing urban transformation projects in view of the social dimension of sustainability. Within the case study of the recovery project of “G. Prandina” barrack in Padua, north-east of Italy, the paper compares two different Italian rating systems to evaluate neighborhood sustainability: “GBC Quartieri” and “ITACA Scala Urbana”. The GBC Quartieri rating system, with a point scheme, allots credits for neighborhood design features, and integrates the environment, infrastructures, and buildings for the creation of sustainable communities with a relationship net and a pre-existence connection. The “ITACA Scala Urbana” procedure consists of a multicriteria evaluation of the environmental sustainability and the compilation of a group of worksheets, one for each different internal performance indicator. The results show the main differences and analogies among the different tools, and this analysis confirms that new neighborhood protocols originating from building rating systems dedicate little space to social aspects and to the concept of inclusion, instead of the newly developed neighborhood protocols. Through this examination, the research can also conclude that the identification of common macro-areas is present, which highlights the different levels of importance given to the various features connected to social sustainability in neighborhood transformation.

MIXED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, INCLUSIVITY, AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY NEXUS IN THE CITIES OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH: A SYSTEMATIC BIBLIOMETRIC REVIEW

Faced with significant challenges, the creation of urban environments in the Global South that foster socio-economic development and upward mobility, access to economic opportunities, efficient use of scarce resources, and social cohesion is fundamental in achieving global and regional sustainability objectives. The South African urban context, in need of significant spatial transformation, mixed housing development, and the elements inherent to its inclusivity, has been identified as an instrument to stimulate social, economic, and environmental sustainability in a divided and fragmented environment. These developments are characterised by heterogeneous housing typologies, medium- to high-density residential layouts, provision of public amenities, and unique neighbourhood designs. In addition to potential challenges related to mixed use development, there is also uncertainty regarding the ability of said developments to foster broad urban sustainability. Accordingly, this research investigates the interface between mixed housing development, inclusivity, and urban sustainability, with the objective to determine their relationship and the extent to this has been studied in the developing country context. The method used to achieve the objectives of the research is a systematic bibliometric review of existing publications on mixed housing development. Findings indicate that there is limited research on the direct link between mixed housing development, urban sustainability, and inclusivity, especially in the context of the Global South. In addition, existing mixed housing development research has a transdisciplinary character with various research clusters, and that research on related themes have gained prominence in recent years. The findings motivate further study of the relationship between the mentioned themes in the South African, and by extension, developing country context, and that broad policy perspectives ought to be considered in future research initiatives.

Children’s perceptions of their neighbourhoods during COVID-19 lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT Neighbourhood design can have substantial impacts on children's physical and psychological well-being. COVID-19 lockdowns produced striking and unprecedented changes in how neighbourhoods functioned for children. The aim of this research was to explore what worked well for children during Alert Levels 3 and 4 (lockdown) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), focusing in particular on the neighbourhood environment. Children (n = 192) aged between 5 and 13 years completed an online survey that collected information on neighbourhood walking and wheeling and what they liked about their neighbourhood during lockdown in NZ. Car-less neighbourhoods were important for supporting children’s well-being. Community activities such as the NZ Bear Hunt were appreciated by children. Natural environments, being home, spending time with family, and simple activities were all liked by participants. Social connections were important but often required technology. Findings can help inform initiatives to support child well-being in the face of potential future lockdowns or new pandemics.

Multi-Objective Optimization Models to Design a Responsive Built Environment: A Synthetic Review

A synthetic review of the application of multi-objective optimization models to the design of climate-responsive buildings and neighbourhoods is carried out. The review focused on the software utilized during both simulation and optimization stages, as well as on the objective functions and the design variables. The hereby work aims at identifying knowledge gaps and future trends in the research field of automation in the design of buildings. Around 140 scientific journal articles, published between 2014 and 2021, were selected from Scopus and Web of Science databases. A three-step selection process was applied to refine the search terms and to discard works investigating mechanical, structural, and seismic topics. Meta-analysis of the results highlighted that multi-objective optimization models are widely exploited for (i) enhancing building’s energy efficiency, (ii) improving thermal and (iii) visual comfort, minimizing (iv) life-cycle costs, and (v) emissions. Reviewed workflows demonstrated to be suitable for exploring different design alternatives for building envelope, systems layout, and occupancy patterns. Nonetheless, there are still some aspects that need to be further enhanced to fully enable their potential such as the ability to operate at multiple temporal and spatial scales and the possibility of exploring strategies based on sector coupling to improve a building’s energy efficiency.

Role of Neighborhood Design in Reducing Impacts of Development and Climate Change, West Sherwood, OR

We used the EPA SWMM-5. 1 model to evaluate the relative impact of neighborhood design and constructed Low Impact Development (LID) features on infiltration, evaporation, and runoff for three future scenarios. In the Current Course (CC) future, current regulations and policies remain in place under lower rates of climate change and population growth. In the Stressed Resources (SR) future, rapid rates of population growth and climate change stress water systems, and conventional development patterns and management actions fail to keep pace with a changing environment. In the Integrated Water (IW) future, with the same rapid rates of climate change and population growth as the SR future, informed water management anticipates and adapts to expected changes. The IW scenario retains public open space, extensive use of constructed LID features, and has the lowest proportion of impervious surface. Neighborhood designs varied in the number of dwelling units, density of development, and spatial extent of nature-based solutions and constructed LID features used for stormwater management. We compared the scenarios using SWMM-5.1 for a set of NRCS Type 1a design storms (2-yr, 25-yr, 20% increase over 25-yr, 30% increase over 25-yr) with precipitation input at 6-min time steps as well as a set of 10-year continuous runs. Results illustrate the importance of neighborhood design in urban hydrology. The design with the highest proportion of impervious surface (SR future) produced runoff of up to 45–50% of precipitation for all variations of the 25-year storm, compared to 34–44 and 23–39% for the CC and IW futures, respectively. Evaporation accounted for only 2–3% of precipitation in the 25-year design storm simulations for any scenario. Results of continuous 10-year simulations were similar to the results of design storms. The proportion of precipitation that became runoff was highest in the SR future (33%), intermediate in the CC (16%), and lowest in the IW future (9%). Evaporation accounted for 6, 11, and 14 of precipitation in the SR, CC, and IW futures with LID, respectively. Infiltration was higher in scenarios with LID than for the same scenario without LID, and varied with the extent of LID employed, accounting for 59, 71, and 74% of precipitation in the SR, CC, and IW scenarios with LID. In addition to differences in performance for stormwater management, the alternative scenarios also provide different sets of co-benefits. The IW and SR future designs both provide more housing than the CC, and the IW future has the lowest cost of development per dwelling unit.

Der Campus als offene Bildungslandschaft

The development of educational infrastructure is increasingly linked to aspects of urban planning, urban design and architecture and discussed within the concept of educational landscapes, which links formal and non-formal educational settings and learning processes to spatial design. In practice, the Leitbild and design of educational campuses that are favoured by multi-professional stakeholders is one that also serves and is open to the neighbourhood. The aim of this research is to investigate the significance of the campus model and how the different interests and goals of the stakeholders in relation to the guiding idea of an initially openly conceived educational campus are negotiated in the process of planning and implementation. Empirical results from a case study are derived from an analysis of planning documents, site visits and interviews. The campus offers a robust model for educational policy and pedagogical as well as the planning and urban development goals of the stakeholders, and can also withstand ambivalent feelings and actions about aims and objectives within a campus development. The open educational campus can only be implemented in part because there is a lack of management strategies regarding how the openness can function and be maintained in everyday life on the campus. Instead, stakeholders see and accept the necessity of internal and external boundaries (especially fencing) without developing and negotiating far-reaching ideas about how these boundaries can be created productively as an educational space. English title: The campus as an open educational landscape. Perspectives and expectations for the design of neighbourhoods as educational spaces

Revealing the Influence Mechanism of Urban Built Environment on Online Car‐Hailing Travel considering Orientation Entropy of Street Network

Exploring the impact of the urban built environment on online car‐hailing, an increasingly popular mode of urban transportation, is crucial for developing corresponding transportation strategies and addressing sustainable urban planning. This paper captures that the form and orientation of the neighborhood network have a certain degree of influence on travel behavior. Therefore, the road network orientation entropy indicator is introduced based on the originally built environment elements, and the orientation‐order (OO) indicator calculation model is constructed to normalize it. This study further tests and verifies its impact on the travel behavior of online car‐hailing, thereby improving the factor characterization of neighborhood design latitude in the urban built environment. From the perspective of spatial correlation and spatial heterogeneity, the optimal models are selected by model comparative analysis, namely, the spatial Durbin model (SDM) and the mixed geographically weighted regression model (MGWR). Based on the optimal model estimation results, the influence mechanism of the urban built environment on the spatial‐temporal distribution of online car‐hailing travel in three cases (considering road network density (RD), considering RD and OO, considering OO) is compared and analyzed. The results show that the model fitting considering the OO is the best in the above three cases, and the OO has a significant impact on DiDi travel compared with the RD in this study, which verifies the rationality and necessity of selecting the OO in this study. In addition, catering service, corporate business, and OO have significant positive spillover effects, while the spillover effects of sports and leisure service and land‐use mix are negative. The indicators of the bus station, residential district, catering service, shopping service, corporate business, land‐use mix, life service, and OO have significant spatial heterogeneity.

IOT INTEGRATED SMART STREET FURNITURE: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY, INDUSTRY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COLLABORATION

This article discusses the design process and pilot program of a suite of IoT-integrated street furniture aimed to improve use and amenity of municipality assets in public open spaces in Sydney, Australia. Networked sensors were embedded in the furniture and linked to a web-based dashboard application enabling a digital twin of the asset to monitor and analyze how and when the furniture was used. The prototype and modifications to existing furniture designs provided additional utility for the local community through lighting, free wi-fi access, power outlets, USB charging, water, a weather station and bench space. Outcomes of the street-furniture installation revealed innovative protocols for design-development teams and asset managers to review product performance and efficiency. This article presents a collaborative government/industry/university project that has been recognized by The World Bank for intelligent neighborhood design practices and by the Planning Institute of Australia for its novel approach to community social infrastructure.

The role of spatial configuration in moderating the relationship between social sustainability and urban density

Spatial configuration is an important element of a neighborhood design due to its impact on social behavior, density, and physical arrangement. However, current studies usually overlook this aspect when exploring the impact of densification on the social sustainability indicators, including safety, social interaction, sense of place, community stability, and community participation. Therefore, this study undertakes two interrelated case studies i) to identify the patterns of interaction between spatial configuration factors, density, and social sustainability indicators using the first case study, and ii) to examine and validate these patterns in a different context using the second case study. Computational analysis has been conducted to extract the spatial configuration followed by statistical analysis to explore the potential social patterns. The outcomes confirm the integral role of spatial configuration on social sustainability in finding strong associations between safety, sense of place, and social interaction with spatial configuration measurements. Community participation and community stability have not been strongly affected by spatial configuration, but they helped in explaining the contextual impact. The outcomes of this study can assist planners, policy makers, and designers to strategically prioritize social sustainability in their urban densification development plans by considering spatial configuration.

THE EFFECT OF RESIDENTIAL LAYOUT DESIGN ON NEIGHBOURHOOD RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN JOHOR BAHRU

In Malaysia, typically, the grid system of terrace houses layout has been dominated by landed housing in the property market for many years. The grid system of residential layout may offer more units to be built up by the developers. This situation may lead to fewer open spaces, playgrounds, and other recreational facilities in a strategic location within the neighbourhood schemes. Adopting some residential layout patterns may influence activities, frequency, interest, time, place, and route while doing their recreational activities. A study related to residential layout mainly focuses on building orientation, building design, privacy, safety, traffic calming, and social relation; however, a limited number of studies examine the effect of neighbourhood design on dwellers’ recreational activities routine and pattern. This paper aims to assess the relationship between residential layout design and its impact on dwellers’ recreational activities in well-planned landed neighbourhood schemes. Using observation, two (2) different residential layouts in Johor Bahru were selected as the study area, namely Taman Mutiara Rini (Presint Bakti), for the grid housing schemes and Taman Nong Chik Height for the innovative honeycomb layout. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings in this paper proposed recreational activities in the residential layout may be influenced by several design factors. The design of neighbourhood and outdoor open spaces, for example, played an essential role in residents’ evaluation of the various recreational activities. This study concludes that residential neighbourhoods design, including buildings and the neighbouring environment, significantly impacts people's ability to participate in neighbourhood recreational activities. Based on this research’s findings, residential layouts’ design in both study areas influenced local dwellers’ recreational activities types behaviour and preferred route through outdoor space arrangement.

Cognability: An ecological model of cognitive function and neighborhood design

AbstractBackgroundNeighborhood environments are linked to multiple established risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia including physical inactivity, depression, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. As an upstream influence on modifiable risk factors, neighborhood environments may help delay or prevent the onset of cognitive impairment. They may promote physical activity, social engagement, intellectual stimulation, and healthy eating; reduce exposure to air pollution; and limit stress levels related to environmental factors such as traffic and noise. Ecological theoretical models of cognitive health are needed to systematically investigate the environments in which people develop and navigate cognitive decline. This paper builds evidence for a new concept of ‘cognability’: an innovative theoretical approach to indicate how supportive a neighborhood is to cognitive health through community resources and neighborhood amenities that support socially, physically, and intellectually active aging in place.MethodWe conducted analyses in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, a national sample of aging Black and white Americans (n=21,151, mean age at assessment 67 years). We used a confirmatory factor analysis of five cognitive tests measuring verbal learning, memory, and executive function (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation=0.013; Comparative Fit Index=0.999), and output standardized scores for each participant. Contextual measures were created for urban‐dwelling participants using a kernel density method to capture proximity and availability of neighborhood amenities. Multilevel generalized additive models estimated associations between global cognitive function and access to neighborhood places for physical activity, socialization, and intellectual stimulation.ResultAnalyses identified statistically significant positive associations between cognitive function and access to civic and social organizations (p‐value=<0.001), senior centers (p‐value=0.004), coffee shops and fast‐food restaurants (p‐value=<0.001), parks (p‐value=<0.001), recreation amenities (p‐value=0.023), walkable destinations (p‐value=<0.001), and arts/cultural sites (p‐value=<0.001).ConclusionLiving in neighborhoods with more opportunities for social interaction, physical activity, and intellectual stimulation may support cognitive function among older adults aging in place. Promoting ‘cognability’ via neighborhood intervention and urban planning may complement and enhance biomedical and individual lifestyle approaches.

AI takes on city design [artificial intelligence - architecture

Advanced AI-powered generative design tools can now automate the design and planning of entire neighbourhoods and districts of cities, reducing complexity for architects and urbanists and providing a speedier route to construction. But how effective is the technology and could it remove the need for humans in the design process entirely? Yet greater reliance on AI raises concerns over the expanding role of computers in design decision-making. Does AI merely provide a helping hand in the process or wrest control away from the people we entrust to make crucial decisions about the places where we live and work? Will it lead to better quality and more inclusive urban development, or create a generation of cookie-cutter-style buildings and neighbourhoods devoid of character and individuality?

Modelling the effect of BIPV window in the built environment: Uncertainty and sensitivity

BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaic) window has been proven as a promising technology to increase renewable energy and reduce environmental effects of the building. The effect of BIPV window in the built environment could change significantly with the window configuration, building materials, and urban landscape, which have a large variability within cities. In this study, we adopted a newly developed building energy model coupled with a single-layer urban canopy model (BEM-SLUCM) to characterize the uncertainties of BIPV window effect at the neighbourhood scale in a hot desert climate city, Phoenix, USA. Using an advanced Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm, extensive simulations were conducted to quantify the sensitivity of extreme outdoor microclimate, building cooling load and renewable energy generation to various input parameters. Results show that the canyon aspect ratio, window coverage, and power generation efficiency are pivotal to maximize the electricity generation by BIPV window. Canyon air temperature and building cooling load are highly sensitive to momentum roughness length above canyon, thickness of building envelope, air conditioning setpoint temperature, and canyon aspect ratio. This indicates a strong dynamic interaction between building's indoor space and the surrounding canyon environment. In contrast, thermal and optical properties of BIPV window have negligible effects on the urban thermal environment. Findings in this study reveal key mechanisms that regulate the urban microclimate and building energy consumption, provide guidance for BIPV applications in the built environment, and shed new lights on the sustainable design of urban neighbourhoods.

Environmental analysis of health damages coming from a residential neighborhood built in 150 countries

Decisions made in the design of urban developments at the neighbourhood scale influence damages on human health, which depend on location. So far, no standard has proposed the range of health damage coming from neighborhoods located in any region, due to the different morphologies of neighborhoods, and limited study numbers. Aware of this fact, this study was conducted with the aim to evaluate and to compare the effect of health damage produced by a sustainable neighborhood in which the same morphology was designed in several regions. To perform this comparison, the same neighborhood design is applied to 150 countries, but four parameters are adapted to each country: energy mix, local climate, building materials, and occupants ‘mobility. In addition, this study analysis the induced health impact of the neighborhood over a life cycle of 100 years and examines the impact of mobility and renewable energy on the health, which was evaluated by Pleiades ACV software. Among the four local parameters (energy mix, local materials, climate, and transport), the energy mix has the most significant effect on the health damage. The results show that the countries having a lower concentration of renewable energy sources have higher health damage than others. Africa is the continent that most affected by health damage due to lack of having an eco-neighborhood. The building materials and electricity use are the main sources of health damage in a neighborhood. The implementation of photovoltaic panels on the roofs of an eco-neighborhood has a significant impact on the potential health damages. Among the different stages of the neighborhood life cycle, the operation stage is the most significant which is responsible over 50% of total health damage. It is important to multiply ecological neighborhoods around the world, because health damage is estimated to be 20% lower in sustainable neighborhoods than more conventional neighborhoods.

Interaction between walkability and fine particulate matter on risk of ischemic stroke: A prospective cohort study in China

Living in walkable neighborhoods has been reported to be associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Features of walkable neighborhoods, however, may be related to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5), which could increase risk of cardiovascular disease. The interaction effect between walkability and PM2.5 on risk of ischemic stroke remains to be elucidated. In this study, we recruited a total of 27,375 participants aged ≥40 years from Yinzhou District, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China to investigate the associations of walkability and PM2.5 with risk of ischemic stroke. We used amenity categories and decay functions to evaluate walkability and high-spatiotemporal-resolution land-use regression models to assess PM2.5 concentrations. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During a median follow-up of 4.08 years, we identified a total of 637 incident cases of ischemic stroke in the entire cohort. Higher walkability was associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke (quartile, Q4 vs. Q1 walkability: HR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.47–0.75), whereas PM2.5 was positively associated with risk of ischemic stroke (Q4 vs. Q1 PM2.5: HR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.29–2.25). Furthermore, we observed a significant interaction between walkability and PM2.5 on risk of ischemic stroke. Walkability was inversely associated with risk of ischemic stroke at lower PM2.5 concentrations, but this association was attenuated with increasing PM2.5 concentrations. Although walkable neighborhoods appear to decrease the risk of ischemic stroke, benefits may be offset by adverse effects of PM2.5 exposure in the most polluted areas. These findings are meaningful for future neighborhood design, air pollution control, and stroke prevention.

Urban Travel Behavior and Socio-Spatial Issues in the Mena Region: What Do We Know?

AbstractUnlike literature and studies coming from high-income or Western countries, the existing conducted on the Middle East and North Africa fail to draw a nearly complete image of the characteristics of passenger travel behaviors in the urban areas of the region. This gap necessitates a holistic review of the previous studies and comparing their results of those of the international findings. This paper summarizes the status of urban travel behavior studies on the MENA region under eight categories of socioeconomics, land use, perceptions and attitudes, urban sprawl, neighborhood design, public transportation use, active mobility, and new technologies and concepts. Descriptive literature review and desk research depicts both lack of research results or data and differences between the behaviors in the MENA region and the Western countries. Moreover, based on the background review, this paper provides a list of recommendations for having more sustainable mobility in the MENA region.

Analysis of Urban Energy Resources to Achieve Net-Zero Energy Neighborhoods

This paper summarizes a methodology developed to optimize urban-scale energy mix. An optimal capacity estimation method based on energy credits is proposed, the objective of which is to plan renewable and alternative energy sources to yield zero (or positive) year-end energy credits. Several renewable and alternative energy resources are considered, including photovoltaic systems, solar thermal collectors, wind turbines, waste to energy (WtE) potential, as well as thermal seasonal storage. The methodology employs several energy simulation and optimization tools, including Energy Plus, TRNSYS and MATLAB. The optimization employs a non-linear process that uses objective function, boundaries and non-linear/linear constraints as input. The methodology is demonstrated on a hypothetical mixed-use neighborhood, designed to achieve high-energy performance objectives, with three scenarios of energy operations: 1) all electric, 2) all-electric except for DHW, and 3) DHW and space heating arenon-electric. The pilot location of this mixed-use neighborhood, including residential and commercial buildings, is Calgary (AB, Canada). For the all-electric scenario, PV systems implemented in all available south facing roof areas together with a limited number of wind turbines can achieve NZE status. For the other two scenarios, solar thermal collectors coupled to borehole thermal storage (STC and BTES) need to be considered. Although in all cases of the considered scenarios waste-based energy is not required, it can be used to shave the peak electric load, reducing the stress on the grid. This methodology can be employed for the design of an integrated urban energy systems, in different neighborhood designs, to achieve energy self-sufficient, or energy positive status.

Gendering Neighbourhood Marginalization Metrics in Mental Health Services Research: A Cross-Sectional Exploration of a Rural and Small Urban Population.

Background: Little is known about the extent to which socioenvironmental characteristics may influence mental health outcomes in smaller population centres or differently among women and men. This study used a gender-based analysis approach to explore individual- and neighbourhood-level sex differences in mental health service use in a context of uniquely smaller urban and rural settlements. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis leveraged multiple person-based administrative health datasets linked with geospatial datasets among the population aged 1 and over in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. We used multinomial logistic regression to examine associations between neighbourhood characteristics with risk of service contacts for mood and anxiety disorders in 2015/2016, characterizing the areal measures among all residents (gender neutral) and by males and females separately (gender specific), and controlling for age group. Results: Among the province’s 707,575 eligible residents, 10.7% (females: 14.0%; males: 7.3%) used mental health services in the year of observation. In models adjusted for gender-neutral neighbourhood characteristics, service contacts were significantly more likely among persons residing in the most materially deprived areas compared with the least (OR = 1.09 [95% CI: 1.05–1.12]); when stratified by individuals’ sex, the risk pattern held for females (OR = 1.13 [95% CI: 1.09–1.17]) but not males (OR = 1.00 [95% CI: 0.96–1.05]). Residence in the most female-specific materially deprived neighbourhoods was independently associated with higher risk of mental health service use among individual females (OR = 1.08 [95% CI: 1.02–1.14]) but not among males (OR = 1.02 [95% CI: 0.95–1.10]). Conclusion: These findings emphasize that research needs to better integrate sex and gender in contextual measures aiming to inform community interventions and neighbourhood designs, notably in small urban and rural settings, to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in the burden of mental disorders.

‘Cul-de-sacs make you fat’: homebuyer and land developer perceptions of neighbourhood walkability, bikeability, livability, vibrancy, and health

ABSTRACT Academics use ‘walkability’, ‘healthy’, ‘bikeability’, ‘vibrancy’, and ‘livability’ to describe neighbourhood design that support health and wellbeing. These labels are communicated in the media and real estate and land development marketing materials, yet residents may not use these labels when describing their neighbourhoods. Our qualitative study explored recent homebuyers’ and residential land developers’ perceptions of these neighbourhood design labels. Twelve land developers (7 men; 5 women) and twelve homebuyers (7 men; 5 women) from three major cities (Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge) in Alberta, Canada, completed semi-structured telephone-interviews. Interview transcripts underwent content analysis. Land developers and homebuyers shared common perspectives of these labels, which had similarities with academic definitions. Participants described walkability as: (a) ease of movement, (b) contextual differences, and (c) connections; healthy as: (a) opportunities for activity, and (b) diversity; bikeability as: (a) supportive infrastructure, and (b) differing preferences; vibrancy as: (a) matches peoples’ values, and (b) supportive built features; and livability as: (a) all encompassing, and (b) safe and friendly. The features described were not mutually exclusive to any one-neighbourhood label. Our findings suggest that walkable and bikeable neighbourhoods are not necessarily vibrant or livable, nevertheless walkability, bikeability, vibrancy, and livability are qualities of a healthy neighbourhood.