Social Sustainability Assessment Research Articles

Evaluation of the social dimension of sustainability in the built environment in poor rural areas of China

ABSTRACTResearch on the experiences of the recent tremendous rural construction and restructuring in China show that the social dimension of sustainability is crucial for the success of rural development. However, most conventional built environmental sustainability assessment tools (BESATs) are mainly focussed on environmental sustainability and building performance. There are to date no useful or complete assessment methods of social sustainability in the rural built environment. This study reviews the concept of the social dimension of sustainability and its application in architecture. Several existing BESATs are analysed and compared to identify their features and gaps in the assessment of social sustainability. From this, a series of indicators of social sustainability in the built environment are developed and discussed in the context of the current situation and challenges in poor rural areas in China. Compared with conventional BESATs, the social dimension of sustainability assessment method (SDM) not only considered indoor environmental quality but also covered a variety of issues from human physiological needs to psychological needs. More importantly, it can be used to guide the practice of rural construction from the initial stage by providing a systematic understanding and point-by-point instructions.

Application Options of the Sustainable Child Development Index (SCDI)-Assessing the Status of Sustainable Development and Establishing Social Impact Pathways.

The needs of children and their vulnerability to diseases, violence and poverty are different from those of adults. The Sustainable Child Development Index (SCDI) was thus developed in previous work to evaluate the status of sustainable development for countries with a focus on children and triple-bottom-line thinking. This study proposes application options to put the SCDI into practice. The SCDI can be performed similarly to existing development indices, for comparing and tracing the performance of sustainable development on different geographic levels and between population groups. In addition, the SCDI can be integrated into existing social sustainability assessment approaches (e.g., Social Life Cycle Assessment and Social Organizational Life Cycle Assessment) and databases (e.g., The Social Hotspots Database) to take children into account and enhance impact assessment of social sustainability assessment approaches. As an exemplification, this study demonstrates the application of the SCDI framework to support the development of social impact pathways. Due to the importance of tertiary education in reducing poverty, a preliminary social impact pathway addressing completion of tertiary education was established. By putting the SCDI into practice, the SCDI can support decision making in child as well as sustainable development policies.

Social sustainability assessment of groundwater resources: A case study of Hanoi, Vietnam

Groundwater plays a key role in public water supplies around the world, and consideration of the social dimension is a key issue in sustainable groundwater management. In Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, the situation of groundwater resources is disastrous because the quality has seriously degraded recently. Hence, in this study, a social sustainability assessment framework of groundwater resources with a focus on Hanoi is proposed for the first time. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach was used to generate the main components (aspects and indicators) of this framework, which has been considered one of the most challenging tasks in AHP sustainability applications. To overcome these challenging tasks, we carefully reviewed and explored the current problems of Hanoi groundwater resources to propose 3 main aspects (quantity, quality, and management) and appropriately selected their 13 sustainability indicators for this target area. We introduce a sustainability index function (SIF) for indicators to clarify the relationship between each indicator value and its sustainability index. Furthermore, we consider both the conventional linear relationship, as it is usually developed in the literature, as well as a non-linear SIF to arrive at a reasonable sustainability assessment. For the Hanoi case study, the sustainability indices obtained using a combined linear and non-linear SIF method reflect the current problems well, that is, the social sustainability assessment is closer to reality. The sustainability indices of the quantity, quality, and management aspects of the groundwater were appropriately assessed as good, poor, and acceptable, respectively, resulting in Hanoi being rated at the acceptable level in the final social sustainability assessment. This result reveals that the population of Hanoi is satisfied with the quantity of water but dissatisfied with its current poor quality and its relatively high price.

Social Sustainability Assessment of Canadian Egg Production Facilities: Methods, Analysis, and Recommendations

A detailed assessment of the “gate-to-gate” social risks and benefits of Canadian egg production facilities was undertaken based on the United Nations Environment Programme/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment. Data were collected via survey from a representative subset of Canadian egg farms, and evaluated against a novel suite of indicators and performance reference points developed for relevance in the Canadian context. The evaluation focused on interactions with four stakeholder groups (Workers; Local Communities; Value Chain Partners; and Society) in eighteen thematic areas. This assessment resulted in a rich and highly nuanced characterization of the potential social risks and benefits attributable to contemporary egg production facilities in Canada. Overall, risks were low and benefits were identified for Local Communities, Value Chain Partners, and Society stakeholder groups, but mixed for the Workers stakeholder group. With respect to the latter, identified areas of higher risk are related, in particular, to a subset of indicators for Working Hours, Equal Opportunities and Fair Salary. As such, the results suggest opportunities and strategies for the Canadian egg industry both to capitalize on its current successes as well as to proactively engage in improving its social sustainability profile. The study also contributes a novel set of social sustainability metrics for use and continued development in the Canadian egg sector as well as other agri-food sectors in Canada and beyond. The inevitable challenge in social life cycle assessment (LCA) of developing non-arbitrary performance reference points for social indicators for which clear norms do not exist, and similarly for establishing non-arbitrary scales and thresholds for differentiating between performance levels, is underscored. A necessary next step with respect to the methods presented herein is for stakeholder groups to carefully consider and refine the performance reference points and characterization thresholds that have been developed, in order to assess their alignment with context-specific social sustainability priorities for this industry, and also to extend the analysis to encompass other value chain stages to enable a full social life cycle assessment.

Social sustainability tool for assessing land use planning processes

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper was to develop a social sustainability tool to clarify what social sustainability means in land use planning processes. The tool was developed through a robust research process covering a large amount of scientific literature and built environment sustainability assessment tools. To assess how the developed tool works in practice, we used it as a coding system for the assessment of social sustainability in a case study from Finland. The case study includes the master planning process of a medium-sized city and the legal framework guiding it. The theoretical contribution of the paper lies in creating a holistic tool for the assessment of social sustainability in planning processes. This study also provides a strong practical contribution, as it goes beyond theoretical definitions to the pragmatic level by providing exemplary measures to be used in designing and implementing processes. Therefore, this paper is a valuable source for those stakeholders (for example planners, developers and policymakers), who struggle with the issue of the successful implementation of social sustainability practices, and it will help them to benchmark their processes against the themes found in the tool.

Social Life Cycle Approach as a Tool for Promoting the Market Uptake of Bio-Based Products from a Consumer Perspective

The sustainability of bio-based products, especially when compared with fossil based products, must be assured. The life cycle approach has proven to be a promising way to analyze the social, economic and environmental impacts of bio-based products along the whole value chain. Until now, however, the social aspects have been under-investigated in comparison to environmental and economic aspects. In this context, the present paper aims to identify the main social impact categories and indicators that should be included in a social sustainability assessment of bio-based products, with a focus on the consumers’ category. To identify which social categories and indicators are most relevant, we carry out a literature review on existing social life cycle studies; this is followed by a focus group with industrial experts and academics. Afterwards, we conduct semi-structured interviews with some consumer representatives to understand which social indicators pertaining to consumers are perceived as relevant. Our findings highlight the necessity for the development and dissemination of improved frameworks capable of exploiting the consumers’ role in the ongoing process of market uptake of bio-based products. More specifically, this need regards the effective inclusion of some social indicators (i.e., end users’ health and safety, feedback mechanisms, transparency, and end-of-life responsibility) in the social life cycle assessment scheme for bio-based products. This would allow consumers, where properly communicated, to make more informed and aware purchasing choices, therefore having a flywheel effect on the market diffusion of a bio-based product.

A principal component analysis based three-dimensional sustainability assessment model to evaluate corporate sustainable performance

Abstract Corporate sustainability assessment involves two procedures including quantification of the upstream/downstream impacts generated during the company’s activities and integration of these impacts into a single metric. In order to achieve a desirable balance among the economic growth, environmental friendliness, and social equity, it is essential to scientifically manage and monitor the corporate sustainability. This paper proposes a three-dimensional (economic, environmental, and social) sustainability assessment model to analyze the corporate sustainable performance based on principal component analysis. An effective evaluation indicator system for cooperate sustainability assessment is provided after conducting reliability and validity analysis. Considering the coordination degree of sustainable development among the three dimensions, the corporate sustainability index is used to express the overall sustainability performance of a company. A case study on the internal combustion engine manufacturing industry in China has been conducted to verify the validity and practicability of the proposed method. A questionnaire survey was conducted at 52 companies to collect the economic, environmental, and social indicators data during 2010–2012. A total of 49 companies responded, yielding a total of 103 economic samples, 102 social samples, and 79 environmental samples. The results of this investigation show that a large gap exist in the reported enterprises in their sustainability, and most of them are recommended to take measures to improve the sustainability performance. At the end, a specific company is selected to illustrate how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of its sustainability performance.

Social Sustainability Assessment across Provinces in China: An Analysis of Combining Intermediate Approach with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Window Analysis

There are two categories (i.e., radial and non-radial category) in conventional DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). Recently, intermediate approach was put forward as a new third category. Intermediate approach is a newly proposed approach and there are quite limited related studies. This study contributes to the DEA studies by putting forward an analytical framework of combining intermediate approach and DEA window analysis along with the concepts of natural and managerial disposability. Such combination is quite meaningful and this new approach has three important features. To the best of our knowledge, such type of research has never been investigated by the existing studies. As an application, this approach is used to evaluate the performance of provinces in China from 2007 to 2014. Furthermore, this study develops a series of performance indices from different perspectives. This study identifies the three important findings. Firstly, eco-technology advancements can achieve economic prosperity and environmental protection simultaneously, and thus should become a new direction of climate policies. Secondly, considerable differences exist in a series of indices that evaluates the performance of various provinces and pollutants from different respective. Then, sufficient attention should be given to the provinces and the pollutants with poor performance. Finally, the Chinese government should promote efficiency improvement by “catching up” for provinces with poor performance in the short term. In addition, the central government should reduce regional disparity in order to promote the social sustainability in the long term.

An ecosystem services and Bayesian modelling approach to assess the utility of water resource development in rangelands of north Australia

Past water resource developments in dryland regions rarely estimated the full suite of environmental and social impacts arising from damming and diverting water for food production. Nowadays there is a greater focus on sustainable resource development which considers the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits. A challenge is to apply tools and methods which can capture the often disparate knowledge and data describing many costs and benefits. This paper describes a proof of concept application of a large Bayesian Decision Net to estimate the total utility of water resource development according to criteria of social, economic and environmental sustainability. We focus on two water-scarce catchments in remote northern Australia which are under investigation for development. The study catchments contain a diverse set of ecosystem services and socio-cultural values, including important Indigenous values and high value freshwater ecosystems. The Bayesian Decision Net was shown to have many properties that made it useful for performing a social, economic and environmental sustainability assessment, in particular its ease of construction; its ability to handle quantitative and qualitative data types; its preservation of system knowledge and; its ease of use in aiding decision making. From the perspective of the sustainability assessment in our case study, the total utility of water resource development for new irrigation is negative in both the studied catchments. The overall utility of water resource development could be positive if irrigation development is highly sensitive to the environment and there are very low environmental impacts, and much higher net economic returns to irrigators eventuate, possibly through higher commodity prices, lower capital costs of irrigation development or some combination of both.

Quantitative indicators for social sustainability assessment of supply chains

Abstract Despite the increased interest in social sustainability there is still lack of information for the social assessment, as well as a lack of appropriate quantitative social sustainability indicators to perform such assessment. In this paper, there is proposed a set of 31 quantitative social sustainability indicators enabling the evaluation of the whole supply chain. In particular, the issues related to labor practices and decent work, as well as human rights are analyzed. The indicators are developed based on literature review and validated by a content analysis of 141 sustainability reports, which cover all echelons (upstream, midstream, downstream) of supply chains. By considering differences that exist within different echelons of the supply chain, one-way statistical analysis (ANOVA) is performed in order to decide whether echelons affect the relevance of the indicators. Finally, using data available in sustainability reports the applicability of indicators is tested. Results of the content analysis showed that issues covered by all 31 indicators are addressed implicitly by companies in their sustainability reports, while ANOVA analysis showed that the type of echelon does not impact the relevance of the indicators, being this set of indicators a generic approach to holistic assessment of the supply chain. Further, it was verified how these indicators can be used for the assessment of the whole supply chain. Thus, the proposed indicators can be used for both performance assessment, as well as for periodical monitoring of the supply chains; they can also be an important tool in policy making.

Evaluating social sustainability of bioeconomy value chains through integrated use of local and global methods

A bioeconomy is an economic system, which replaces fossil resources with renewable biological resources. As strategies are implemented, new bio-based value chains are created and others expand to replace fossil fuel based supply chains. Understanding the sustainability impacts of this development requires tools for assessing the impacts. The environmental impacts of bioeconomies have been studied through life cycle assessment, but the social impacts are poorly understood. Commonly applied social sustainability methods are local in scope and lack a life cycle perspective. The aim of this paper was to compare the priority setting in global and local approaches to social sustainability assessment and to explore possibilities for integrating them. A multi-region input-output model was used to estimate the social life cycle impacts of Finnish wood products. The main social issues were found in health and safety and gender inequality, with a large part of the impacts occurring outside the forest sector and outside Finnish boundaries. In contrast, local stakeholders views on social sustainability focused mostly on local conditions, employment and co-operation between companies. Ways to combine the contrasting results were explored and a framework for integrating the local and global approaches was outlined.

Assessment of Social Sustainability in Construction Projects Using Social Network Analysis

This paper aims to propose a framework that puts the stakeholders at the forefront of achieving sustainability in the social context. This research, thus, argues that the social sustainability outcomes in construction are best achieved by taking into account the satisfaction of the stakeholders. Based on sustainability and equity theories, a dynamic assessment model has been developed to evaluate the contributions of projects in a social context. Multiple stakeholders and their differing interests associated with the construction projects have been integrated using social network analysis. The mapping of the relationships between the project stakeholders, with respect to their relative stakes and seven social core functions, have been integrated into the assessment model. The findings of this research suggest that the degree of satisfying the needs of diverse stakeholders is highly significant in achieving social sustainability performance of projects. Using a case study from Saudi Arabia, the applicability and significance of the assessment model has been demonstrated. The application of the model provides the opportunity to identify any problems and to enhance the overall performance of projects in the social context. The functionality and efficacy of the model need to be further tested outside the Saudi Arabian region. The research is original in the sense that for the first time, a novel approach has been developed, putting the stakeholders at the forefront of achieving sustainability outcomes in construction projects

A new method for Product Service System: the case of urban waste management

The growing attention on environmental and social sustainability issues is pushing companies to move towards new business models. In this context, PSS (Product Service System) seems to be one of the most suitable model to foster the transition to sustainable economic models. The PSS is composed of a mix of tangible products and intangible services. The method proposed in this paper supports the PSS design. The objective of this work is to integrate careful assessment of economic, environmental and social sustainability supporting the transition towards new business models and strategic company decision-making. The method is then validated through a case study on the management of urban waste.

Social sustainability assessment of shale gas in the UK

The majority of shale gas studies so far have focused on environmental impacts with few considering societal aspects. This paper presents a first and most comprehensive assessment of the social impacts of shale gas production and utilisation for electricity generation, focusing on the UK context. The assessment has been carried out based on 14 indicators, addressing the following social sustainability issues: employment, health and safety, nuisance, public perceptions, local communities, infrastructure and resources. Shale gas is compared to a range of other electricity options, including other fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables. Where appropriate and possible, the social impacts are evaluated on a life cycle basis. The results suggest that extraction and utilisation of shale gas would lead to a range of benefits, including employment opportunities and financial gains by local communities. However, these are limited and countered by a number of social barriers that need to be overcome, including low public support, noise, traffic, strain on infrastructure (e.g. wastewater treatment facilities), land use conflict and availability of regulatory resources. Furthermore, shale gas does not present a notable opportunity for increasing energy security, unless its production increases significantly above current predictions. These findings can be used by policy makers, operators and other shale gas stakeholders with an interest in the social impacts of shale gas development. The results can also be useful for other countries planning to exploit their shale gas reserves.

Quantitative indicators for social sustainability assessment of society and product responsibility aspects in supply chains

Quantitative indicators for social sustainability assessment of society and product responsibility aspects in supply chains

Institutional pressures and sustainability assessment in supply chains

PurposeFirms are increasingly held accountable for the welfare of workers across entire supply chains and so it is surprising that standard forms of governance for socially sustainable supply chain management have not yet emerged. Assessment initiatives have begun to develop as a proxy measure of social sustainable supply chain management. This research aims to examine how social sustainability assessment initiatives instigate and use institutional pressures to drive third-party accreditation as the legitimate means of demonstrating social sustainability in a global supply chain.Design/methodology/approachTen assessment initiatives focused on assuring social sustainability across supply chains are examined. Data are collected through interviews with senior managers and publicly available secondary material.FindingsThe findings show how the social sustainability assessment initiatives act by instigating institutional pressures indirectly rather than directly. Coercive pressures are the most prevalent and are exerted through consumer and compliance requirements. The notion of pressures operating as a chain is proposed, and the recognition that actors within and outside of a supply chain are crucial to the institutionalization of social sustainability is discussed.Originality/valueStudies on sustainable supply chain management often focus on how companies sense and act upon institutional pressures. To add to the extant body of knowledge, this study focuses on the sources of the pressures and demonstrates how assessment initiatives use coercive, normative and mimetic pressures to drive the adoption of social sustainability assessment in supply chains.

Social sustainability assessment of small hydropower with hesitant PROMETHEE method

Small hydropower stations in remote areas promote regional economic development and social progress. Social sustainability assessment which immensely decides the success of small hydropower development has been paid little attention currently. Meanwhile, present methods tend to fail the social sustainability assessment due to following three problems. Firstly, the uncertainty of information cannot be fully described. Secondly, the correlation among indicators lacks rationality. Thirdly, the ranking methods adopted in previous studies are not appropriate for social sustainability assessment of small hydropower. To deal with the above problems, a Preference Ranking Organization. Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) outranking method using hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS) is proposed. Firstly, the HFLTS is introduced to describe the uncertainty of information. Then, the Analytical Network Process (ANP) method is adopted to measure the correlation between indicators. Moreover, the PROMETHEE method is employed to rank the social sustainability of each alternative. Then an empirical study is carried out to prove that the proposed methodology is effective and practical. Finally, public recognition is discovered as the key indicator by comparative analysis and discussion. This study provides an innovative perspective for the social sustainability assessment of small hydropower and contributes to making more rational and scientific decisions.

Quantitative Indicators of Social Sustainability and Determination of Their Interdependencies. Example Analysis for a Wastewater Treatment Plant

Social impact as growing concern is becoming an important aspect of the design and operation of wastewater treatment processes. A need has arisen for the development of quantitative indicators of social sustainability. Design and operation of wastewater treatment processes additionally require simple and effective methods to represent and understand the interconnections between the indicators of social sustainability. This paper presents an approach for the development of quantitative social sustainability indicators, and introduces a novel method for defining and visualizing indicator interdependence. It outlines equations for quantitative evaluation of health, safety and security, and comfort. Weighting method of the bipartite network of the relations between the indicators and stakeholders enables clear visualization of the interdependencies of the indicators and facilitates simplification of the set of social sustainability criteria. It creates a basis for reduction of amount of data needed for performing the analysis and reducing the social sustainability assessment’s costs.

Development of social sustainability assessment method and a comparative case study on assessing recycled construction materials

Sustainability analysis should include the assessment of the environmental, social, and economic impacts throughout the life cycle of a product. However, the social sustainability performance assessment is seldom carried out during materials selection due to its complex nature and the lack of a social life cycle assessment tool. This study presents a single score-based social life cycle assessment methodology, namely social sustainability grading model, for assessing and comparing the social sustainability performance of construction materials using a case study on recycled and natural construction materials. The proposed method is developed based on the methodological framework provided by the United Nations Environment Programme/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry guidelines published in 2009 and the methodological sheets published in 2013, the indicators and sustainability reporting guidelines provided by the Global Reporting Initiatives and ISO 26000 for social responsibility of products, and the indicators provided by the Hong Kong Business Environment Council Limited for construction sustainability. A twofold research approach is proposed in this model: the first one is the qualitative research based on expert interviews to identify, select, and prioritize the relevant subcategories and indicators, and the second one is the operational research based on the case-specific survey to collect the required data. A social sustainability index was proposed for the interpretation of the results effectively. A case study on construction materials was conducted to illustrate the implementation of the method using case-specific first-hand data. The major outcome of this study is the systematic development of a social sustainability assessment tool based on the established standards and guidelines. The case study showed that four subcategories are crucial social concerns for construction materials (i.e., health and safety issues of the materials, health and safety of workers, company’s commitment to sustainability, and company’s policies on energy and water consumption). Based on the sustainability index proposed, using recycled aggregates from locally generated waste materials scored higher (about 31–34%) social sustainability than using imported natural aggregates. In addition, recycled aggregates and natural aggregates achieved “sustainable” and “neutral” rating sustainability levels, respectively. However, several subcategories (e.g., health and safety, working hour, forced work, training and social benefits of workers, and quality of the materials and information disclosing to public) are still needed to improve the social sustainability performance of recycled aggregates. An integrated social life cycle assessment method is presented in this study for assessing the social sustainability of construction materials. In addition, the reported case study in this paper is one of the first attempts for social sustainability assessment of recycled construction materials, and the method can be applied to other recycled materials/products for comparative analysis. However, several critical factors, such as integration in other life cycle methods and software, sensitivity analysis, and more case studies, are still needed for further improvement of the developed method.

Assessment of social sustainability: a comparative analysis

Sustainable development is a widely used term, which has been discussed thoroughly at environmental, economic and social levels. While prior researches were dominated initially by environmental issues and economic aspects, social dimension had less chance of study. Therefore, the goal of this study is to understand the physical and non-physical aspects of social sustainability and to assess its application in housing developments. In this research, a mixed method approach was used to assess social sustainability in different typologies of housing development. Two residential compounds and its surroundings were investigated. Morphological analysis for the research setting was conducted along with statistical analysis for the collected data from households. As a result, there was a salient difference between compound and its surroundings. This can be seen clearly in the case of serious trial to improve social sustainability represented by providing vital open spaces associated with a well-designed facility. This helps to create various forms of social interaction and boosts a sense of belonging which will affect positively on social sustainability. Meanwhile, poor design creates negative energy due to the absence of social sustainability parameters. So, there is a need to consider the role of social infrastructure in designing and planning residential development.