Sustainable Neighborhoods Research Articles

Toward holistic neighbourhood sustainability assessment: integrating fuzzy Delphi method for sustainable indicator selection for Aizawl city

ABSTRACT Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment (NSA) is vital in navigating the complex dynamics of social, environmental, and economic factors in localised settings, especially amidst the challenges of urbanisation, resource scarcity, and climate change. NSA tools have emerged as pivotal instruments in integrating sustainability into urban development, recognising neighbourhood as fundamental units for systemic sustainability approaches. However, existing NSA methodologies tend to favour environmental aspects, prompting a call for more balanced approaches encompassing social and economic dimensions. The study underscores the need for NSA tools to evolve towards context-sensitive methodologies for broader applicability across diverse urban landscapes. Through a literature review, the study highlights the importance of integrating community perspectives, sustainability indicators, and context-specific approaches in NSA, advocating for holistic strategies to drive sustainable urban development agendas. This study presents a methodological framework for selecting neighbourhood sustainability indicators in Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram which is located in N-E India, by incorporating community perspectives and expert judgments. The methodology involves several steps: review of existing NSA frameworks to select comprehensive indicators, perception and public participation surveys to identify local indicators, engagement of experts through the Fuzzy-Delphi Method, and application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for indicator prioritisation. Through these steps, 47 essential indicators were selected, covering social, economic, environmental and governance aspects. The study emphasises the importance of combining bottom-up community input with top-down-expert knowledge for comprehensive and reliable sustainability assessments. Challenges such as energy and water resource deficiencies are highlighted, underscoring the need for balanced approaches to neighbourhood sustainability planning.

Social sustainability of neighbourhood parks in India - instrument content validity

Neighbourhood parks are the most proximate public spaces that promote physical and mental health, well-being and happiness, social cohesion, a sense of community, etc. This vital resource can help create socially sustainable neighbourhoods in global south cities. This paper aims to develop a validated assessment framework for the social sustainability of neighbourhood parks in India. Thematic literature analysis is used to construct an assessment instrument consisting of ten variables and eighty-one indicators related to the social sustainability of neighbourhood parks. The instrument is checked for content validity through expert review using the Content Validity Index. Use of parks by people engaged in informal economic enterprises in neighbourhoods and by non-residents, the significance of ‘third places’ in park use, safety concerns, and sociocultural aspects of perception of safety emerge as essential variables to be considered in the Indian context. The high CVI of the developed instrument indicates excellent content validity. The instrument is designed to assess the provision, user perception and social use of neighbourhood green spaces in Indian cities to promote social sustainability.

Vacant land and neighborhood sustainability in Chicago: Analyzing spatially varying associations

Vacant land and neighborhood sustainability in Chicago: Analyzing spatially varying associations

What’s possible: Investing now for prosperous, sustainable neighborhoods by Marie Howland

What’s possible: Investing now for prosperous, sustainable neighborhoods by Marie Howland

What’s possible: Investing now for prosperous, sustainable neighborhoods by Marie Howland

What’s possible: Investing now for prosperous, sustainable neighborhoods by Marie Howland

Sustainable Neighborhood Waste Management: Hybrid Digestion Approaches for Organic Waste Processing

Sustainable Neighborhood Waste Management: Hybrid Digestion Approaches for Organic Waste Processing

Cultivating Community: Addressing Social Sustainability in Rapidly Urbanizing Hyderabad City, Pakistan

In the modern dialogue of urban planning, social sustainability emerges as a crucial focus, especially in swiftly expanding cities like Hyderabad, Pakistan. Despite its importance, social sustainability is frequently overlooked, particularly in developing regions. This research examines the planning frameworks shaping socially sustainable residential areas in Qasimabad Taluka, Hyderabad City. Once lush farmland, Qasimabad has swiftly transformed into residential sectors. This transition has led to declining living standards and weakened social sustainability metrics. Through meticulous analysis, this study evaluates the community engagement, inclusivity and accessibility, social cohesion and safety, and facilities and amenities factors of social sustainability in the residential neighborhoods of Qasimabad Taluka using field visits and a comprehensive questionnaire survey with a sample size of 307 adopting cluster and quota sampling techniques. Data analysis with SPSS-22, supported by reliability, exploratory factor analysis, and Yeh’s satisfaction index model reveals key elements such as community accessibility, safety, green spaces, and aesthetic appeal. The findings reveal deteriorating infrastructure in Qasimabad, emphasizing the necessity for substantial interventions in infrastructure development, public space revitalization, and the cultivation of civic consciousness. Addressing these issues is vital for fostering neighborhoods that are both livable and socially cohesive. By shedding light on these critical needs, urban planners can effectively create sustainable living environments in Qasimabad Taluka.

Social sustainability in public housing: insight from social network analysis of recent residential developments in Enugu, Nigeria

Despite the growing need for public housing schemes to contribute to the attainment of sustainable residential neighbourhoods in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), the extent to which such schemes are achieving this in countries in the Global South is yet to be determined. This study investigated the social sustainability of three public housing estates in the Enugu Urban area, Nigeria, with a view to understanding their social sustainability indices. A cross-sectional survey of randomly selected 160 residents of the estates was done and the data analysed using descriptive and social network analyses. The findings revealed that the sampled housing estates recorded moderate social sustainability values due to differing availability and use of public spaces, and associational activities. The study implies that the provision of public spaces and facilities is vital in enhancing the social sustainability of mass housing developments.

The social implications of the vital city model: measuring the impact of urban vitality on neighbourhood sustainability

ABSTRACT Previous studies have identified vital urban spaces through the concentration of people, the diversity of land uses and buildings, accessibility, and the existence of a compact urban fabric. However, the relationship between urban vitality and social sustainability has not been studied in these terms. This paper seeks to analyse the social implications of the vital city model for residents in the context of a Latin American city: Santiago de Chile. To do so, we use the JANE index to measure the formal conditions of the built environment for urban vitality, and the Longitudinal Social Study of Chile to measure urban social sustainability. We first use a PCA technique to reveal six core components of urban social sustainability: Sense of belonging, Safety, Sociability, Well-being, Satisfaction with housing, and Conservation of the neighbourhood. We then test the associations between the strength of these six core components and the conditions for urban vitality by means of a multiple linear regression model. Significant associations between urban vitality conditions and urban social sustainability suggest that socially sustainable neighbourhoods are found in sectors with the presence of old buildings, accessibility to public transportation, and far from mega infrastructures.

The impact of social network embeddedness, TPB, and danwei system on residents' participation intention in old neighborhood regeneration

Residents' participation is crucial for sustainable old neighborhood regeneration. Residents' intentions to participate in the regeneration are low in China, resulting in unsustainable neighborhood development problems. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the drivers of residents' participation. Residents' behavioral mechanisms are deeply embedded in their social networks, especially in acquaintance social networks typical of old neighborhoods in China. By constructing a mediated moderation model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and danwei system and taking the old neighborhood regeneration in Xi'an as a case study, this paper investigates the paths and mechanisms of the social network embeddedness, TPB, and danwei system on residents' participation intention. The results show that social network embeddedness can improve residents' intention to participate in regeneration through both direct and indirect pathways, and its indirect effect is much larger than the direct effect. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control significantly and positively mediated the contribution of social network embeddedness on participation intention. However, the specific mediating effect of attitude is significantly smaller than the other two. The danwei system has a significant moderating effect in the first stage of the relationship between social network embeddedness and participation intention. These imply that the extrinsic social factor of social network embeddedness is internalized as a driving force for convergence and motivation of residents' participation intentions mainly through the normative pressure and exchange of experiences between acquaintances and that the danwei system reinforces this extrinsic-intrinsic facilitation process through the danwei's "physical presence." These findings provide revelatory countermeasures for exploring the factors that motivate residents to participate actively in neighborhood regeneration and encourage their involvement at the intervention level.

Community Life Circle, Neighbourly Interaction, and Social Cohesion: Does Community Space Use Foster Stronger Communities?

Neighbourhood social cohesion has emerged as a prominent concern in urban governance worldwide. As the primary domain of residents’ daily activities, the community life circle contributes to neighbourly interaction and social cohesion. This study investigates the role of space use within the community life circle in promoting social cohesion in Chongqing, China. Through an in-depth activity diary survey and structural equation model analysis, we empirically examine the interplay between community space use, neighbourly interaction, and social cohesion. Our findings suggest that the 15 min community life circle plays a crucial role in residents’ daily lives, particularly among senior residents. However, the contribution of community space use to social cohesion is fully mediated by neighbourly interaction. Furthermore, not all patterns of community space use contribute to social cohesion equally; space use engaged with diverse companions on workdays significantly enhances neighbourly interaction and social cohesion. The study enriches the existing literature by deepening our understanding of the role of the community life circle in fostering socially cohesive and sustainable neighbourhoods.

Strategies for Acoustical Resilience towards Liveable and Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods

Strategies for Acoustical Resilience towards Liveable and Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods

Urban renewal and heritage in Brussels, Belgium: participation as the keystone

ABSTRACT Brussels, like many European capitals, is undergoing constant change. The changing use of its districts is giving rise to new problems. To revitalise neighbourhoods in difficulty, Brussels-Capital Region has for many years put in place a number of tools, including Sustainable Neighbourhood Contracts, Urban Renewal Contracts and other specific urban policies. The Regional Administration is responsible for the implementation of a large part of the urban policies and the Urban Renewal Department coordinates the programmes which are implemented by the local authorities concerned, with technical expertise of local consultancies and associations. Our paper describes some on the urban renewal and heritage programmes and provides some examples of finished schemes.

Developing Urban Design Guidelines for Creating Sustainable Healthy Neighbourhoods

The research focuses on community engagement and environmentally friendly methods in the creation of healthyneighbourhoods. Public health issues, environmental degradation, and social inequality are on the rise in urban areasas a result of rapid urbanization. A possible solution to these problems is a growing understanding of the role thatgood urban design can play in improving people's health and happiness. In order to identify important ideas andstrategies for making healthy built environments, this study examines case studies of successful healthy communitiesfrom all over the globe, such as Medellin, Colombia; Vauban, Freiburg, Germany; and Copenhagen, Denmark, amongothers. In order to build healthier, more sustainable communities, the research presents a set of thoroughrecommendations based on public health research, stakeholder participation, and urban design ideas. In order topromote social inclusion, preservation of the environment, and equal access to resources, the standards include awide range of topics related to urban planning, such as connectivity, the supply of green space, mixed land use, andcommunity participation. By drawing from a variety of research fields, this research builds to what is already knownabout healthy neighbourhoods, vibrant neighbourhoods that all individuals can be a part of.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURALLY SAFE ACTIVE SCHOOL TRAVEL OPTIONS TO ENABLE TAMARIKI MĀORI TO FLOURISH A narrative review and model

To better understand the low and declining trends in active transport, there is a clarion call for town planners to develop sensitivity and sensibility towards the cultural backgrounds, realities and priorities of Māori. This will be important in producing more sustainable, healthy and equitable neighbourhoods. This paper outlines the results of a narrative literature review and consultation on tamariki Māori and travelling to kura. Tamariki Māori face barriers to active transport similar to those of other children, including a lack of access to suitable urban infrastructure, but these are exacerbated for tamariki Māori by historical issues. Factors influencing the feasibility of active transport options for tamariki Māori include school choice, concerns about neighbourhood safety and lack of access to places of importance to whānau Māori. Ultimately, the review reinforces the importance of creating culturally safe active transport options that enable tamariki Māori to flourish.

Analyzing Walkability in Hyderabad: A Study of Sakhi Sultan Road

The current study aimed to address the critical issue of climate change and the role of urbanization in exacerbating global warming. Urban sprawl and reliance on automobiles have led to the occurrence of significant urban problems. Therefore, the current study focused on the concept of walkability and its potential to foster sustainable urban neighborhoods. Walkability can be referred to as an effective green transport option that reduces congestion, environmental impact, and energy consumption while promoting healthier lifestyles and social cohesion. Moreover, the study also emphasized the necessity of innovative and strategic design and planning of neighborhood streets to enhance walkability. The research methodology comprised a case study of Sakhi Sultan Road in Hyderabad using field observations and visual analysis to assess the current condition and potential for improvement. The visual analysis identifies various environmental features that influence walkability including aesthetics, functionality, and safety. The findings revealed a mixture of present and absent features across different spots on the street. Additionally, the study also identified multiple issues, such as inadequate maintenance, lack of accessibility features, and encroachments on pedestrian pathways. All these issues highlight a need to improve and enhance walkability. Literature review supports the relationship between walkability and sustainability, citing that walkable environments enhance the quality of life, promote environmental sustainability, and reduce urban issues, such as traffic congestion and pollution. The study concluded with recommendations to address the highlighted issues and enhance the environmental features in order to foster a more walkable and sustainable urban environment.

Combining parametric life cycle assessment (LCA) and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) for developing sustainable residential neighborhoods

Combining parametric life cycle assessment (LCA) and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) for developing sustainable residential neighborhoods

Ten questions concerning environmental architectural design exploration

It is widely recognized that the sustainability of the built environment is one of the key strategies to tackle global crises such as climate change, resource depletion, and human health. An environmentally driven approach to architectural design and urban planning through simulations has been around for many decades. However, architects and planners haven't fully taken advantage of its potential yet due to the complexity of the tasks and the fragmentation of tools and methods in different fields of expertise. This paper aims to demonstrate how the nascent field of environmental architectural design exploration is a viable answer to complex tasks and challenges through the integration of sustainable design, environmental simulations, building performance analysis, and computational procedures leveraging parametric design environments. After defining the context that favored its development, the ten questions answered present the environmental metrics and design parameters, propose a taxonomy of simulation tools and methods, present optimization processes, identify the required data, and introduce a classification of co-simulation and design exploration workflows, emphasizing their potential for the design of sustainable buildings and districts. Then focus is given to the scales and domains of application and to the potential of machine learning methods. The paper concludes by presenting applications in practice and discussing challenges and future opportunities. Strategies and operational procedures emerge from the ten questions. They emphasize the use of holistic approaches and the selection of balanced design solutions allowed by environmental architectural design exploration for the development of a sustainable built environment.

Toward Sustainable Urban Mobility: A Multidimensional Ontology-Based Framework for Assessment and Consensus Decision-Making Using DS-AHP

Urban mobility is a critical aspect of sustainable urban development, with significant environmental, social, and economic implications. Assessing the sustainability of urban mobility systems in order to create more carbon neutral, liveable, healthier, and sustainable cities and neighborhoods for the future requires a multidimensional approach that integrates diverse factors. However, the lack of a unified assessment framework poses challenges in comparing and evaluating different urban mobility projects. This article proposes an ontology for assessing the sustainability of urban mobility systems. This ontology is based on a multidimensional approach that integrates knowledge from experts in transportation engineering, urban planning, environmental science, and social sciences to incorporate existing sustainability indicators and frameworks, as well as domain-specific knowledge. A consensus approach based on Dempster–Shäfer (DS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods is proposed to account for uncertainties and to allow for the consideration of preferences and ill judgment. Through a case study in Romania, the authors demonstrated the applicability of the proposal to provide a comprehensive and flexible framework for assessing urban mobility sustainability. The proposed ontology provides a valuable tool for policymakers, urban planners, and transportation engineers to make informed decisions towards sustainable urban mobility, and the sensitivity analysis is carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed framework. It has potential for iterative validation and feedback from domain experts, and can serve as a foundation for future research.

What makes co-production work in sustainable neighborhood rehabilitation in China? A stakeholder structure perspective

Globally, co-production serves as a crucial approach to promote sustainable neighborhood rehabilitation. However, in China, where the governance system is characterized by strong state discourse power and a lack of public participation tradition, neighborhood rehabilitation encounters significant challenges, leading to project postponements or even failures due to unsuccessful co-production activities. To reveal the hidden problems, this paper aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the stakeholders' co-production roles and their participation structure in the co-produced sustainable neighborhood rehabilitation process from multiple dimensions. Using the case in Chongqing, the data was collected through questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews. Social network analysis was utilized as the research method, and one-mode and two-mode networks were established to depict six relationship types with using diverse network indicators. This study revealed the high complexity of stakeholder structure, the awkward role of grass-rooted government, the dilemma of public voices and perceptions, uneven involvement in the co-production process, and the dynamic path of co-production formation. Drawing upon co-production theory, this paper elucidates the intricate mechanism of co-produced neighborhood rehabilitation in China. It offers valuable implications for policymakers and urban planners for project promotion, and contributes empirical insights to research in similar governance systems across the global context.