Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods Research Articles

Balancing Economic Sustainability with Densification: A Case Study of Dhaka

Economically sustainable urban residential neighborhoods are characterized by adequate provision of physical infrastructure including transport facilities and utility services. The built urban fabric of residential areas of Dhaka has been undergoing densification operation over the past decades without considering the physical infrastructure capacity of these areas in terms of accessibility and provision of transportation and utility services. This intervention eventually exerted pressure on the existing infrastructure and caused negative externalities like traffic congestion, pollution, and water clogging. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the impact of densification on residential areas of Dhaka through the lens of economic sustainability. Seven residential areas from Old and New Dhaka that underwent various degreesof densification were selected as the study areas. Primary data was collected through a random sampling household questionnaire survey, fieldwork, and informal qualitative interviews with the residents and officials. Various published literature, newspaper articles, plans, and reports from government archives, Capital Development Authority (RAJUK), Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) provided the secondary data. The analysis is carried out in two parts. In the firstpart the impact of densification on accessibility to transportation facilities and utility services is analyzed in terms of availability of the services, distance to the bus stops, average travel time, modal choice, and residents’ satisfaction level. The second part explores the relationship between density and aspects of economic sustainability through Pearson’s correlation test. The findings revealed that public transportation is more accessible in lower-density areas than the higher-density residential areas owing to the road network pattern. A significant service delivery gap except for water supply was observed regarding the provision and quality of gas, electricity, sewerage, and garbage disposal services across all the study areas. Overall, density was found to have a negative association with the accessibility to physical infrastructures indicating that high-density residential areas of Dhaka do not have increased access to public transport and utility services which is contrary to the expected benefits of high-density living. A comprehensive density planning with an integrated sustainable transport plan needs to be formulated where viable public transport like Bus Rapid Transit (BRTs) systems and waterways may mitigate the situation from further worsening.

The potential of implementing superblocks for multifunctional street use in cities.

The Barcelona superblock has been proposed as a sustainable urban neighbourhood transformation strategy in cities. Superblock design reduces space assigned to cars to enable alternative uses for improving liveability and sustainability. Here, the potential for superblock transformation is systematically quantified and evaluated for cities with varying urban forms and densities. A superblock consists of nine (3×3) urban city blocks including interior and exterior streets. Miniblocks, consisting of four (2×2) blocks, are proposed as a less disruptive strategy to initiate urban transformation on which superblocks can build upon. A geospatial network-based approach is developed to find locations for introducing multifunctional streets. For possible site prioritization, the identified locations are evaluated concerning the potential disruption to traffic. The analysis reveals that the potential for super- and miniblocks, as well as their disruption effect, varies considerably across cities and is affected by the urban layout. For some cities, over 40% of the street network is potentially suitable for integrating super- or miniblock design, providing opportunities for city-scale transition towards more sustainable and liveable cities. A grid-like layout in cities is not a sufficient condition for high superblock potential and cities with irregular street layouts can show high transformation potential as well.

A Critical Framework to Develop Human-Centric Positive Energy Districts: Towards Justice, Inclusion, and Well-Being

Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are a new energy initiative from European member states. They are, simply put, local districts which produce more energy than they consume. PEDs are expected to adopt a more human-centric perspective in order to create more liveable and sustainable urban neighbourhoods. However, as previous research on energy transitions has demonstrated, the mainstream approach and technocratic tradition of research and policy vis-à-vis energy transitions could result in the perpetuation of social inequalities, energy injustices, and the passive participation of citizens also within PEDs. Hence, it is crucial in these early days of PEDs to discuss what a human-centric approach should entail and how it should be enacted. Based on a narrative literature review of critical social sciences' energy research (and specifically from social and environmental psychology), this paper will propose a critical framework containing five key dimensions which are relevant for creating more just and inclusive PEDs. These are: uncertainty, risk perception and trust; distributive justice; recognition justice and people-place relations; procedural justice; and, routines, capabilities and lived experiences. To that end, it will also discuss the different implications of mainstream and critical approaches in energy research and social sciences in relation to the deployment of human-centric PEDs. The review concludes that in order to successfully deploy human-centric PEDs, a critical approach is needed and presents some concrete recommendations for future research and policy in order to adopt such an approach. These include: considering justice, inclusion and the well-being of affected socio-ecological systems in the whole-life cycle of PEDs; better integration of indigenous capabilities; and, an ethos of de-growth and circularity in their deployment.

Selecting Indicators for Assessing Neighbourhood Sustainability: The Metropolitan Lagos Workflow

Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Frameworks (NSAFs) are increasingly touted as crucial in planning and designing sustainable urban neighbourhoods. Ostensibly, NSAFs ensure that sustainability concerns are duly addressed following the recognition that neighbourhoods are key building blocks of urban areas. While the NSAF discourse has largely involved developed countries, the selection of appropriate indicators to use in an NSAF has remained a problem often because of little robust evidence to support the selected indicators. Also, as develoing countries are largely absent in this discourse, this paper presents an exemplar approach and workflow for selecting NSAF indicators for a Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) context. Positivist techniques (weighted average, co-efficiency of variation, and content validity in ratio) are used to rank the significance of the stakeholders’ indicated perceptions and preferences collected using questionnaire surveys from metropolitan Lagos. This paper’s significance lies in showcasing the robust methodological approach and sound evidence-base for selecting the indicators based on input form diaparate stakeholders: including data requirements and workflow that SSA countries can easily adopt.

Strategies promoting innovation in sustainable neighborhood (SN) projects – Lessons from complex and mega projects

Abstract Statistics of GHG emissions and energy consumption are continuously reminding us of the urgent drive to promote environmentally sustainable urban neighborhoods and communities. Sustainable neighborhoods are increasingly becoming more popular since they offer opportunities that could be exploited in the change towards a low carbon society. This paper draws on innovation and project management literature in an attempt to describe the strategies and practices promoting innovation during the different stages of the sustainable neighborhood (SN) projects’ lifecycle, and illustrate how the project communicates innovation with its wider ecosystem. Moreover, we argue that sustainable neighborhood (SN) projects tend to have an ambidextrous nature, adopting different exploration and exploitation strategies in the front-end and back-end stages, respectively.

Evaluation of settlement textures in terms of building energy, economic performance, and outdoor thermal comfort

Settlement textures have continued to exist for many years without any major changes in terms of the performance of the buildings or outdoor thermal comfort conditions. Radical changes in a settlement texture are only possible when the existing texture is completely demolished and a new settlement texture is built in place of the old one during urban redevelopment processes. Therefore, a multi-scale approach evaluating building component scale, building scale, and settlement scale was developed in this study to design settlement textures based on environmental and climate data. This approach intended to evaluate the energy and economic performance of the reference residential building in different settlement texture alternatives and to determine the effects of settlement texture alternatives on outdoor thermal comfort conditions. Additionally, the goal was to evaluate the existing thermal properties of building envelope components to improve the energy and economic performance of the reference residential building as well as to evaluate the use of trees on streets to enhance existing outdoor thermal comfort. In this way, mistakes in the construction of settlement textures affecting many occupants could be prevented, and the development of sustainable urban neighbourhood designs with efficient buildings and settlements would be possible.

Home industry area based on sustainable urban neighbourhood study case: SMEs industry area in Pulogadung Jakarta

As a developing country, SMEs (Small Medium Size Enterprises) has quite a role to improve the Indonesian economy. The government already gives opportunity to SMEs actors through some regulations, not only from financial access point of view bul also regulations in providing the area to accommodate their activities. Jakarta has build a home industy area developed since 1981 named Pusat Industri Kerajinan Pulogadung (Craft Central Industry Pulogadung). Now, this area has been growing in line with the development of the city. It makes this Industry area surrounded by urban residential areas. This study is the result of a design scenario in one cluster of the CCI Pulogadung complex. This cluster is provided for home industry especially for SMEs leather industry. The design for this industrial cluster is not only must be in accordance with the vision and mission of the goverment but also should be suit with its surrounding environmental context. Therefore, the design is based on Sustainable Urban Neighborhood and the surrounding context that also focus on analyzing aspects : user, movement and land subdivision. The result of the study is expected create integrated industrial area between the whole existing industry area and the new cluster in harmoniously. As always become a point to achieved in community developemnt as a part Sustainable Architecture.

Townhouse with the Application of Hydroponics in Lebak Bulus

This townhouse design aims to create the pattern of hydroponic application to the townhouse units and its supporting facilities through a sustainable urban neighbourhood approach that focuses on urban green space. The research applies thephenomenological approach, and data analysis was conducted based on David Rudlin’s theory (1999) that includes analysis of urban texture aspect, circulation analysis and analysis of greening. To deepen the analysis, both on residential systems and hydroponic systems, the research is also equipped with insights gained from comparative studies and literature studies.

City Branding, Sustainable Urban Development and the Rentier State. How Do Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai Present Themselves in the Age of Post Oil and Global Warming?

In the past three decades Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai have realised a meteoric economic rise. Whereas the former two can be considered ‘rentier states’ heavily depending on oil (and gas) revenues, the latter only leans on oil for a mere 6% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Although the economic rise has brought considerable welfare, it has also led these emirates to attain the world’s highest per capita carbon footprint. To address this problem Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai seem to have formulated policies with regard to sustainable urbanisation and adopted strong branding strategies to promote them internally and externally. In this paper we examine which steps have been taken to substantiate their claims to sustainable urbanisation, in branding as well as in actions taken towards implementation. We find that all three have been very active in branding their sustainable urbanisation policies, through visions and policy frameworks as well as prestigious development projects, but that the former is substantially more impressive than the latter. Results also show there is a difference between Abu Dhabi and Qatar on the one hand, and Dubai on the other. Dubai has large number of small ‘free economic zones’, academic institutions for developing a knowledge economy, and smart and/or sustainable urban neighbourhoods, while Qatar and Abu Dhabi have a small number of very large ones. From the three, it is currently Dubai which has taken the lead in this development, largely completing its industrial transition with vast economic diversification and urban expansion. However, across the board this has had little effect on its ecological footprint.

A Sustainable Urban Concept for Housing Estates: Plot, Patch, Part

While, in practice, the rehabilitation of prefabricated housing estates has mostly focused on the buildings, a comprehensive concept, which is able to revalorise this problematic housing stock has become increasingly relevant. The specific, holistic proposal of the revalorisation demands an interdisciplinary approach, based on urban planning principles of SUN (sustainable urban neighbourhoods), that can reconceptualise housing units on the different scales as plot, patch and part of a city or town. To find proper methodology, this paper attempts to adopt an approved evaluation tool used in the field of property development. Property development strongly adheres to various certification systems. These apply not only to buildings, but on the urban scale, neighbourhoods can also achieve good qualification in systems like LEED Neighbourhood. This study argues that the requirements of LEED Neighbourhood can be adequately applied in the case of existing housing estates; as a result of which, they could become less isolated and could be more easily integrated into the neighbouring urban network as sustainable parts of cities and towns.

Analyzing the role of social capital in sustainable environmental governance: A case study on Piranshahr

AbstractThe main objective of the present study was to investigate the role of social capital in sustainable environmental governance in relation with formation of sustainable urban residential neighborhoods, the cause of inefficiency of some of them in terms of integrated urban management, and empowering them. As the study's purpose required, the study's method was applied, and regarding the nature, it was an analytical descriptive study. According to its title, the data collection method was survey using questionnaire technique. The study population consisted of the residents of Piranshahr in 2016. To select them, Cochran formula was employed, and the sample size was determined to be 382 individuals. In so doing, stratified random sampling method was utilized. The collected data were analyzed using LISREL and SPSS software packs and through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model. The results of the study indicated that the indices utilized in the study had a significant effect on the environmental sustainability of the urban neighborhoods. They also showed that the citizens' beliefs in that they, as local‐oriented social capital, influence the decisions and that the urban management requires their participation in urban governance had a strong positive effect on sustainable development of the neighborhoods. These effects are so strong that the governors have been effective in unsustainability of the urban neighborhoods by ignoring the role of social capital. It was also concluded that environmental sustainability indices were not favorable enough.

Integrated Sustainable Planning Process

Planning policies in Egypt are undergoing a transformation process, not only on the political levels, since 2011, but also on the social, behavioural and economic levels. A new vision and planning process are needed to assure sustainability. Hence, this paper attempts to view and assess the sustainable urban development policies and process applied in "Bahnstadt" railway suburb in Heidelberg, Germany and adapt it to the case of Ramses Railway neighbourhood in Downtown Cairo. It also attempts at setting guideline strategies for an integrated sustainable urban neighbourhood planning prototype.

RESIDENT PERSPECTIVE ON CYCLING AS AN OPTION FOR TRANSPORTATION IN PUTRAJAYA

The Federal Government and local authorities, including Putrajaya Corporation, has introduced various initiatives to promote more sustainable transportation options such as encouraging the use of public transportation, walking and cycling in order to reduce the need to travel by car. This paper discusses the findings of the study done among the local residents in Precinct 1, 10, 11, 14 and 15 Putrajaya regarding their patterns of cycling as well as their perspectives on the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation. The study employs quantitative methodology. Primary data were gathered by direct interviews at respondent’s home or at the local commercial area. The study analyses residents’ awareness about the sustainability of cycling, their opinion on the lack of bicycle usage and their willingness to use bicycle as a sustainable mode of transportation. It was found that respondents were aware of the benefits of cycling but hesitant to adopt cycling as mode of transportation for their daily trips. Based on the residents’ perspective and the pattern of bicycle usage in their daily life, several suggestions are outlined at the end of the paper with the aim of promoting cycling as a choice of transportation towards greener cities and more sustainable urban neighbourhoods.

RESIDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE ON CYCLING AS AN OPTION FOR TRANSPORTATION IN PUTRAJAYA

The Federal Government and local authorities, including Putrajaya Corporation, has introduced various initiatives to promote more sustainable transportation options such as encouraging the use of public transportation, walking and cycling in order to reduce the need to travel by car. This paper discusses the findings of the study done among the local residents in Precinct 1, 10, 11, 14 and 15 Putrajaya regarding their patterns of cycling as well as their perspectives on the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation. The study employs quantitative methodology. Primary data were gathered by direct interviews at respondent’s home or at the local commercial area. The study analyses residents’ awareness about the sustainability of cycling, their opinion on the lack of bicycle usage and their willingness to use bicycle as a sustainable mode of transportation. It was found that respondents were aware of the benefits of cycling but hesitant to adopt cycling as mode of transportation for their daily trips. Based on the residents’ perspective and the pattern of bicycle usage in their daily life, several suggestions are outlined at the end of the paper with the aim of promoting cycling as a choice of transportation towards greener cities and more sustainable urban neighbourhoods.

Is there a market for sustainable urbanism? A conjoint analysis of potential homebuyers in Israel

This study uses conjoint analysis to evaluate the preferences of prospective homebuyers in Israel for sustainable urban neighbourhoods. The results reveal that from the variables examined, neighbourhood form is the most important variable after price, and that hierarchical and disconnected neighbourhood form is generally preferred over an urban grid. Nevertheless, access to a neighbourhood park, shops and transit could make an urban grid-like neighbourhood more attractive to potential buyers. Moreover, the housing type most preferred by respondents is a 4–6 story apartment building and least preferred are the most prevalent in recent years − buildings over 14 stories.The outcomes of the consumer preference study replicate similar studies in developed countries that show a gap between the kind of neighbourhoods advocated by planners and researchers, and those favoured by potential buyers. Planners should explore the strategic findings to plan for sustainable neighbourhoods that offer more variety and meet a more complex set of residential pReferences

John Gilderbloom’s Thought-Provoking Strategies About Regeneration and the Language of Planning

Planning is a 'jargon�-y' field with terminology that oftens distract from the purpose of a project or idea. During a luncheon seminar at Cal Poly, Dr. I. Gilderbloom, a professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, addressed this challenge through his own work, case studies and personal antidotes. He discussed the intricacies of planning and the role played by language in the implementation of projects and community understanding. Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/focus Part of the Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons This Special is brought to you for free and open access by the City and Regional Planning at DigitalCommons@CalPoly. It has been accepted for inclusion in Focus by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@CalPoly. For more information, please contact mwyngard@calpoly.edu. Recommended Citation Schwartz, Jana E. (2016) John Gilderbloom’s Thought-Provoking Strategies About Regeneration and the Language of Planning, Focus: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 9. DOI: 10.15368/focus.2016v12n1.9 Available at: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/focus/vol12/iss1/9 FOCUS 12 Special Events In February 2015, Dr. I. Gilderbloom presented the talk “The 10 Commandments of Urban Regeneration” at Cal Poly sponsored by the Resilient Communities Research Institute. During his visit, he also presented his ideas to CRP’s students and faculty during a brown-bag session. A professor in the Department of Urban and Public A airs at the University of Louisville and director at the Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods, Dr. Gilderbloom is a notable planning professional and academic considered one of the “top 100 urban thinkers in the world.” He is an international consultant on creating livable cities and neighborhoods, and owns a real estate company that renovates historic housing. A Marxist-like scholar who uses divergent thinking to expand the way planners and students envision the future of our communities, he has published widely on rental housing, poverty, health, community development, and urban policy. Dr. Gilderbloom explores thought-provoking planning question from sometimes unusual or even revolutionary perspectives. One of Dr. Gilderbloom’s connections to Cal Poly comes through City and Regional Planning professor, Dr. William Riggs who worked with him during his Master’ s at the University of Louisville. The two teamed us again more recently to produce a highly successful article on the conversion of one-way streets to two-way streets (Riggs & Gilderbloom, 2015). This work was featured in Dr. Gilderbloom’s talk, along with other provocative topics such as the bene ts of gentrifying neighborhoods with the goal of creating healthy, safe, prosperous, sustainable, and just neighborhoods. The resonance of this topic of the pros and cons of gentri cation and it’ s relationship to urban planning is an important one and was the key concept that many in attendance took away. There was a key unspoken question throughout the entire talk. It screamed: How do we balance regeneration and economic development with justice? How do we achieve the bene ts of neighborhood improvement without gentri cation and displacement? While Dr. Gilderbloom talked about his work on the bene ts of walkable communities or creating job growth, the facts and interlaced ideas between gentri cation and regeneration resulted in further signi cant group dialogue long after the talk. Dr. Gilderbloom provided factoids about all types of bene ts provided by gentri cation. These included a ordable housing, displacement, diversity of amenities, and project appropriateness—based on environmental and demographic make-up. He o ered suggestions on how to supply these opportunities to all communities, primarily through urban regeneration and in ll. Dr. Gilderbloom provided several case studies that illustrated the impact his dialogue was describing. Dr. Gilderbloom comes from a diverse and arguably depressed area of Louisville that presents ample regeneration, or gentrifying, opportunities. In one case, a development project near the University of Louisville, which houses 500 people, has introduced 12 new stores and businesses and approximately 75 jobs. Of these jobs, 82% of these jobs are going to people without high Dr. Gilderbloom with BSCRP student Rob Etters, after his presentation. (Photo: William Siembieda) Planning is a argon field with terminolog that oftens distract from the purpose of a pro ect or idea uring a luncheon seminar at Cal Poly, Dr. I. Gilderbloom, a professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, addressed this challenge through his own work, case studies and personal antidotes. He discussed the intricacies of planning and the role played by language in the implementation of projects and community understanding. Gilderbloom’s Thought-Provoking Strategies About Regeneration and the Language of Planning

Guided group purchases of energy renovation services and works in deprived urban neighbourhoods

The energy retrofitting of housings is progressing very slowly in Wallonia (Belgium) despite individual fiscal measures and subsidies offered by public authorities to support households engaging in this process. This paper explores the use of a method called ‘guided group purchases’ (GPPs), i.e. an approach combining support, guidance and group purchasing of energy renovation services and works as a possible method to accelerate the retrofitting of the existing housing stock. It reports on an action research experiment conducted in the context of the Interreg project ‘sustainable urban neighbourhoods’ (SUN). The results of this experiment are quite promising. Within a few months, some 80 energy retrofitting interventions (energy audits or insulation works) were implemented in one neighbourhood of the city of Liege. Our evaluation of the experiment showed that the prospect of achieving cost reductions was one of the main initial expectations of participants to the GGPs. Still, the participants rather insisted on other benefits after taking part in the initiative. These benefits were mostly related to the guidance they received, to the facilitation with contractors and to the social dynamics generated by the initiative. Several weaknesses were also identified by the participants, like the lack of follow-up during and after the works. Our evaluation also highlighted that the main landlords did not participate in the initiative and that the influence of GGPs on costs was limited to specific types of interventions. Despite observed limitations and possible improvements, such a neighbourhood-based approach certainly constitutes a promising avenue for public authorities to support and accelerate the energy retrofitting of private residential buildings in urban neighbourhoods.

Emerging Narratives of a Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood: The Case of Vancouver’s Olympic Village

Vancouver’s Olympic Village neighbourhood has been credited with playing an important role in shifting the city towards a more comprehensive approach to sustainability. Like many other urban sustainability efforts at the neighbourhood scale, however, little is known as to the actual performance of the neighbourhood from the perspective of its occupants. To help fill this gap, I present a framework for the evaluation of the performance of sustainable neighbourhoods that that combines insights from narrative and social practice theories to explore how certain narratives of sustainable living are created, translated into practice, and play out in the lives of the principal constituents they affect. In doing so, I begin to reveal the qualitatively felt, experiential dimensions of being in this new form of development, with important lessons for the design, construction and management of future sustainable neighbourhood projects. The study shows that a narrative of liveability and the consideration of short-term quality of life benefits is central to the achievement of ecological and emissions goals. However, an in-depth consideration of the needs of lower income populations is necessary to ensure that the benefits of sustainable living are distributed evenly across socio-economic tiers.

Urban Labelling: Resilience and Vulnerability as Key Concepts for a Sustainable Planning

Planning and implementation of sustainable urban neighborhoods has led in Europe and in other countries to the development of some recognized best practices. Each of these cases has followed specific aims and methodologies but it is still far the systematization of the results and the translation of the good practices into action lines. The paper involves the necessity of new tools for local planning directed to the overall sustainability of the city. Sustainable energy, reduction of the climate-change causes, waste reduction, attention to water resources and to the natural ones are specific operational elements. A possible way to face this challenge is to consider the potentialities of executive plans addressed to increase the sustainability of urban areas starting from limited portions of they. These plans should foresee the minimum impact of volumes and functions to be set up, will provide for the realization of public spaces with zero or almost zero impact, will promote the integration of all the technologies to reduce consumption and encourage energy generation, in order to increase the resilience of the city reducing its vulnerability. On this basis, aim of the paper is to deepen the issue of the measure of the expected results. To this purpose it is necessary to structure a new certification system (Urban Labelling) that can be able to assign a specific sustainability level to a plan using both traditional and new indexes. The same system can also be applied to existing urban areas and as a basis for evaluating reward operations. The impact of the new tool will be cultural (to switch by a description to the facts in relation to urban sustainability), economic (to involve the supply chain from design, implementation, and urban transformation) and technological (the sustainability of urban areas requires the use of advanced technologies not only for the buildings but also in the control of green areas, public spaces and mobility).

Transformation Through Sustainable Qualification: A Sustainable Railway Neighbourhood in Ramses Area

Since the revolution of 25th of January 2011, Egypt is going through a transition phase. Different planning policies all over Egypt and especially for Greater Cairo are undergoing a transformation process, not only on the political levels but also on the environmental, social, behavioural and economic levels. A new planning vision is needed to assure a sustainable way of life. Hence, this paper attempts to adapt the sustainable urban development policies applied in “Bahnstadt” Railway suburb in Heidelberg, Germany to the case of Ramses Railway neighbourhood in Downtown Cairo. It also attempt to set guideline strategies for a sustainable urban neighbourhood prototype in Cairo.