Town Community Research Articles

Analysis of influencing factors for housing construction technology in Desakota Village and town communities in China

Rapid urbanization has reformed the peripheries of China’s main cities during the last four decades. The rural areas have been constantly developed through infrastructure development in recent days which introduces a newly semi-urban region referred to as Desakota. The purpose of this research is to discover potential influencing factors of housing construction technology in desakotas of China which needs to be assessed for the implementation of Desakotas forming globally. In this study, a total of six key primary factors and twenty key secondary factors have been shortlisted, which were surveyed by 120 respondents. After the statistical analysis, it is seen that one primary factor, “Architectural and engineering mechanical factors” has been ranked top. Moreover, “Cost, financial and economic evaluation and Analysis of the impact of the natural environment on buildings” both ranked top among twenty secondary factors. This study adds to the body of knowledge by revealing the primary contributing elements for the first time that need to be taken into consideration in the rural and town communities of desakotas in China. The study results could help stakeholders, construction firms, academicians, researchers, and the government to focus their efforts and resources on the significant changes in the Desakotas in preparation for rapid urban development.

Analyzing Primary Healthcare Governance in Indonesia: Perspectives of Community Health Workers.

Background Community-integrated health posts (Posyandu) are crucial for extending primary healthcare across diverse geographical and demographic landscapes in Indonesia. Community health workers (CHWs) currently function as the main service delivery actors for Posyandu. However, Posyandu's performance remains below the standards set by the Ministry of Health. This study examines health system determinants that explain the poor performance of Posyandu and, in particular, examines the roles of village and township governance and community health center management in supporting the effectiveness of primary healthcare programs. Methodology We analyzed 638 Posyandus across 13 Indonesian provinces, utilizing data from the 2014 Indonesia Family Life Survey. We evaluated eight health system determinants based on the perceptions of CHWs concerning challenges encountered in Posyandus. These factors were ranked and analyzed to determine the variables that affected Posyandu's poor performance. Both unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were calculated. Results This study revealed that nearly half of the Posyandus in Indonesia are underperforming, particularly in rural areas. Common challenges include insufficient funds, inadequate equipment, and a lack of permanent buildings. Although only a small percentage mentioned minimal support from village and Puskesmas authorities, the weak governance roles of village heads are reflected in all the concerns mentioned by CHWs. Conclusions The absence of village heads from governance roles has contributed to Posyandu's operational problems as perceived by CHWs. Community health centers (Puskesmas), responsible for providing technical support to Posyandu, should be part of CHW teams and networks. Further discussions are needed to choose a workable governance model to ensure practical, accessible, and sustainable primary healthcare services at the grassroots level.

The musical past revives in the present: An investigation into the cultural heritage of a community

This article explores how two specific musical performances, drawing respectively on the rich repertoire of Italian sacred music and a specific sound environment of a region, can promote cultural participation and ingenuity in the Italian countryside amidst uncertainty and demographic change due to depopulation and the loosening of traditional communal ties. The first study focuses on a specific case in the town of Ortona dei Marsi in the Italian province of L’Aquila. A seemingly everyday experience – participation in community singing – is considered and appreciated from a musicological perspective, while its importance for the revitalisation of a community is recognised. The rediscovering of a forgotten musical heritage contributes to an evolving, prosaic sense of rural cultural resources. The particular case of the community of the small rural town of Ortona dei Marsi, overcoming isolation, distance and new circumstances through the revitalisation of a musicologically significant object, sheds light on how a community serendipitously uses the opportunity to make and maintain music together to demonstrate social and cultural resilience. The second study looks at the experiences of middle school students in the Italian city of Biella of a specific sound memory that guides and paves the way to a diverse learning environment.

Community Building Through Place-Making Activities: Older Landscapers in a Singaporean Residential Town.

This paper explores how some older residents in B Town, a residential estate in northern Singapore, engage in community building through their 'serious leisure' and 'devotee work' participation in a resident landscaper program. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork conducted from February to November 2020 with participants aged from 60 to 81, I analyze how they built connections with each other, and the wider B Town community, through their participation. Particularly, I examine how the shared identity marker of being former farmers in now-evicted kampungs (villages) before the 1980s drew them together, and informed their continued involvement as resident landscapers. The 'kampung spirit' that they built up through the program enabled the construction of not only social connections, but also exclusionary mechanisms that prevented more older adults from engaging in the activities. These findings highlight participants' agency, and complicate static and/or monolithic conceptualizations of 'aging in place/the community' and 'active aging'.

Optimizing the medical equipment investment in primary care centres in rural China: evidence from a panel threshold model

BackgroundThe previous “one-size-fits-all” practice in resource allocation can no longer adapt to the spatial variation in population and health needs. This study aimed to investigate the spatially heterogeneous effect of medical equipment investment in the township health centres in rural China to optimize the investment strategies.MethodsBased on the national-scale stratified multistage cluster sampling, 319 township health centres from six provinces were included in the study. The retrospective data from 2013 to 2017 were collected for each sampled township health centres and the corresponding township community. The panel threshold regression model was applied to estimate the nonlinear effect of medical equipment increment on the service utilization due to the township communities’ urbanization degree. The influence of township community remoteness on the effects of equipment increment was investigated through subgroup analysis.ResultsAmong the township health centres in the neighbouring towns of the county seat (travel time to the county seat < 1 h), the significant effect of medical equipment increment was only found in the township health centres of the towns with high urbanization degrees (the proportion of the residents living in the built-up area > 69.89%), of which the effect size was 774.81 (95% CI 495.63, 1053.98, p < 0.05). Among the township health centres in the remote towns (travel time ≥ 1 h), the effect of medical equipment increment in the township health centres of the low urbanized towns (urban ≤ 5.99%, β = 1052.54, p < 0.01) was around four times the size of that of the counterparts (urban > 5.99%, β = 237.00, p < 0.01).ConclusionThis study demonstrated the spatially heterogeneous effect of medical equipment investment in the primary care centres in rural China. The priority of the equipment investment was suggested to be given to the township health centres in the remote towns with a low urbanization degree and those in the highly-urbanized neighbouring towns of the county seats.

A state within reach? An ethnographic case study on the relocation of a government workplace from Copenhagen to a small town in rural Denmark

Exploring the redistribution of state jobs from Copenhagen to provincial Denmark, this article draws upon an ethnographic case study involving the relocation of a government workplace, Nota, to the small town of Nakskov (12,500 inhabitants) on the rural island of Lolland. Taking up residence in the town's central square, the article examines the everyday social and economic expectations and norms Nota encounters in this new locale. Based on social scientific theories of practice communities and local economic circles, the analysis illustrates how the state institution must navigate two parallel and opposing economic circuits: that of the state, marked by inflexibility and uniformity, and that of the local town community, grounded in pragmatism and adaptability. The state's standardising central-economic line of procedure is shown to hinder the relocated workplace in becoming part of and contributing to the new host town's own local-economic systems of exchange. In conclusion, the article argues that in daily life a fundamental conflict of interests between state-economic rules and local-economic norms emerges on the ground, meaning that, despite being introduced as decentralisation, when seen from the perspective of the site of relocation, the redistribution of state jobs in Denmark remains bound by logic of centralisation.

Reconstructing glacial lake outburst floods in the Poiqu River basin, central Himalaya

The Poiqu River basin in central Himalaya is a transboundary basin between China and Nepal that has experienced rapid glacier ice loss and glacial lake growth, some of which have drained in catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Here, we focus on the outbursts of two glacial lakes in this basin, Gongbatongsha Co in 2016, and Poiqu No.1 in 2002, and integrate multiple data sources and approaches to improve our understanding of past GLOFs and project the magnitude of potential future GLOFs. We identify their potential triggers and assess downstream damage by combining remote sensing observations and field surveys. We find that after the outbursts, Gongbatongsha Co shrank by 0.14 ± 0.003 km2 (∼91 %) in 2016 and almost disappeared, and Poiqu No.1 shrank by 0.05 ± 0.001 km2 (∼80 %) in 2002 but then expanded by 0.10 ± 0.002 km2 (∼670 %) by 2022. Our study identifies ice avalanches from the parent glaciers as the dominant trigger of the two GLOF events, and clarifies that the 2002 GLOF event stemmed from Poiqu No.1 instead of the reported Jialong Co. We also reconstructed the flow depths, velocities, and inundation areas using the hydrodynamic models HEC-RAS and FLO-2D. For Gongbatongsha Co, the models suggest that the discharge peaked at ∼550 m3s−1 about 15 min after the outburst, and the flood reached the settlement of Zhangmu with a peak flow of ∼1600 m3s−1 about 8.5 h later. The peak discharge during the GLOF from Poiqu No.1 was ∼2700 m3s−1. The flood reached the town of Nyalam 1.3 h later, with a peak discharge of ∼1100 m3s−1. The simulation of a future GLOF from Poiqu No.1 shows significant potential impacts to Nyalam town and other downstream communities due to the high flow depth. A large GLOF scenario for Poiqu No.1 would result in a peak discharge of more than 2500 m3s−1, with the flood wave reaching Nyalam in less than 40 min. We show that very high-resolution digital elevation models such as obtained from uncrewed aerial vehicles perform better in flood simulation. Our approach can be applied to potentially dangerous glacial lakes in other high mountain areas.

Effects of work-family conflict, social support and burnout on job satisfaction among primary care physicians in Huaihai economic zone.

Primary care physicians (PCPs) are doctors in primary health care institutions, namely village clinics, township health centers and community health service centers (stations) who are the main providers of primary health care services in primary health care settings. Improving the overall health status of the population requires the support of a large number of primary care physicians; however, the job satisfaction of this group has not been sufficiently emphasized and recognized. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of primary care physicians' work-family conflict on their job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of social support. This cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2023 to March 2023. Participants were 749 primary care physicians from four cities of Xuzhou, Linyi, Huaibei, and Shangqiu in the Huaihai Economic Zone of China. SPSS statistical analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between work-family conflict, social support, burnout and job satisfaction among medical workers. Work-family conflict had a significant negative effect on job satisfaction (β = -0.36, p< 0.001), after adding burnout in the model, work-family conflict also negatively predicted job satisfaction (β = -0.32, p< 0.001). Social support had a moderating effect on the direct effect of burnout on job satisfaction (β = 0.00, t = 2.66, p< 0.01, 95%CI [0.001, 0.007]), the predictive effect of burnout on job satisfaction at high level of social support (β = -0.45, p< 0.001) was higher than a low level of social support (β = -0.33, p< 0.001). This study demonstrated the negative impact of work-family conflict on primary care physicians' job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of social support on burnout and job satisfaction, which are important for improving primary care physicians' job satisfaction and enhancing the quality of primary care in the future.

Knowledge of Measles and How Caregivers Decide Between Modern and Traditional Treatments. A Case Study of Campbell Town Community, Waterloo-Sierra Leone

Knowledge of Measles and How Caregivers Decide Between Modern and Traditional Treatments. A Case Study of Campbell Town Community, Waterloo-Sierra Leone

The Burden of Obesity and Hypertension Among a Vegetarian Ethnic Minority Community: A Study Among Jain's of Madhya Pradesh, India

Introduction: The prevalence of obesity is increasing among children and adults worldwide. Obesity is one of the major risk factors for hypertension. Thus, the study aimed to document the prevalence of obesity, hypertension and their association with each other among the Jain community of Khurai town, Sagar District (Madhya Pradesh), India. Methods: Data was collected on 175 participants belonging to the age group of 20-59 years. Anthropometric measurements were taken and indices were calculated such as Body mass index, waist-hip ratio, and waist-height ratio to assess general and abdominal obesity. Blood pressure was recorded using a sphygmomanometer. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was found 25.71 percent and 9.71 percent. Whereas, 54.28 percent and 48.14 percent of participants were at risk for central obesity. The prevalence of hypertension was 41.14 percent. Obesity and hypertension were more prevalent among males, females were more overweight. Hypertension had a significant (p-value &lt;0.01) positive correlation with anthropometric indices. Body Mass Index imposed highest significant increase risk (p-value &lt;0.05) on hypertension. Conclusion: Jain adults had a high prevalence of overweight/obesity and hypertension despite of being vegetarian community. Therefore, more attention should be directed towards this community for the prevention, management, and treatment of non-communicable diseases.

Research on the Design of Public Space for Social Interaction of Young People in Small Towns

The purpose of this paper is to study the design of public space for the social interaction of young people in small towns, so as to further understand their social needs and create a better social environment. With the disappearance of demographic dividend, the value of talents becomes increasingly prominent. The development trend of labor-intensive industries has shifted to focus on high-tech industries, and small-town youth refers to young people living in smaller towns or rural areas, who usually face limited social places and resources. Therefore, this study will focus on analyzing the social behaviors and needs of young people in small towns, and exploring the influence and acceptance of different types of public space design on them. Through case study, interview and field observation, this paper tries to provide targeted public space design ideas for small town communities and create an environment that meets the social needs of young people in small towns, so as to enhance the self-identity and sense of belonging of young talents and alleviate the psychological and social problems of "lying flat" young people.

Muslim Feminist Drag: Spilling the “Chai” on Diasporic Khwaja Sira “Realness”

ABSTRACT On April 18, 2023, the authors sat down together for an interview to unravel what happened at a drag show on January 27 at the Whiteside Theatre in Corvallis, Oregon. During the interview, Dharmakrishna Mirza highlighted the impact that her drag character, Hojabi, has on the university campus town community while facing backlash from various groups, including the show’s own producers, for her Muslim feminist portrayal of the character. Being in the audience that night, Trung M. Nguyen, a fellow Asian feminist artist and scholar, critically reflected on their holistic experience as a spectator of the show. This collaborative interview, hence, acts as a reenactment of the performance, invoking notions of First Gender, Khwaja Sira, and trans femme of color critiques coupled with non-Western performance theories and practices. Through the epistemological power of the performance-interview, the authors call attention to the subversive potentiality of Muslim drag as an art form and the drag artists, specifically Black, Brown, Indigenous, and people of color trans performers who keep pushing boundaries against the conservative backdrops of current politically extreme climates.

Effects of urban expansion on the surrounding agricultural communities of the southern Ethiopian town of Jajura

ABSTRACT This study used a mixed research design for several reasons. Firstly, the researchers used longitudinal data from open-source remote sensing satellite imagery dating back at least 30 years to study urban expansion into rural farmland. Then, the researchers used cross-sectional data from household surveys, where data collection tools such as questionnaires and structured interviews were utilized. A simple sampling procedure was used to ensure the representativeness of homogeneous target group households. The survey data was analyzed with SPSS software, and the urban-to-farmland extent was investigated with Landsat satellite images and observation intervals every 10 years for the last 30 years. The key finding of this study was that urban expansion is encroaching onto farmland, negatively impacting household livelihoods. It is recommended that urban expansion should be managed and minimized and that cooperation with the communities in the study area is an important issue. The study emphasizes the significance of comprehending the implications of uncontrolled urban development on rural communities in Ethiopia, using a mixed research approach comprising both longitudinal and cross-sectional data. The research demonstrates that expanding cities are having a considerable impact on agricultural livelihoods and require delicate handling to mitigate their unfavorable influence.

Binge drinking and condom negotiation behaviours among adolescent girls and young women living in Cape Town, South Africa: sexual control and perceived personal power

BackgroundCondom use among young people in South Africa has declined in recent years and adolescent girls and young women continue to bear the highest incidence of HIV in the country. Young women who have dropped out of school may be more at risk because of traditional gender norms that create substantial power imbalances and a lack of power to negotiate condom use with their male partners, especially when using alcohol and other drugs.MethodsThis study presents an analysis of baseline data provided by 500 adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) from Cape Town communities between November 2016 and November 2018 who were reached for a cluster-randomised trial conducted to assess the efficacy of an evidence-based, young woman-focused intervention seeking to reduce HIV risk and substance use behaviours. The analysis focuses on associations between binge drinking, condom use, and sexual negotiation, including impaired sex (any substance use at last sex).ResultsAGYW who reported frequent condom negotiation with their partners were 8.92 times (95% CI: [4.36, 18.24]) as likely to use a condom when alcohol or other drugs were not used at last sex and 5.50 times (95% CI: [2.06, 14.72]) as likely when alcohol or other drugs were used at last sex (p < 0.05). AGYW who reported frequent binge drinking in the past month (n = 177) had significantly reduced odds of condom use at last sex, irrespective of whether the sex was impaired (OR 0.60, 95% CI: [0.49, 0.73]) or not impaired (OR 0.69, 95% CI: [0.60, 0.81]).DiscussionThe findings highlight the need for interventions that reach AGYW in South Africa by specifically aiming to educate AGYW about the effect of binge drinking on negotiating power in their relationships, thus providing them with the knowledge and skills to increase agency regarding condom use.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02974998 (recruitment completed). 29/11/2016.

Tima

Tima (ISO 639-3: tms) is a Niger-Congo language spoken by roughly 7,000 people in the Nuba mountains of Sudan, in north-eastern Africa, as well as in smaller communities in the bigger towns of Sudan such as Khartoum and Port Sudan. It is part of the Katla language group which includes the languages Katla and Julut as well as Tima, with Tima being the most distinct of the three. All three languages are regarded as endangered, mainly due to the spreading influence of Arabic in recent decades, but also due to greater speaker mobility. Broadly speaking, there is a decline in speaker fluency from older to younger speakers of Tima. The Tima people are not only exposed to Arabic as the lingua franca and official language of Sudan, but also to English and Kiswahili. These latter languages were introduced into the school system during the extremely difficult circumstances of the second civil war (1983–2005), when teachers from Kenya came to the Tima region (in addition, many Tima people went to Kenya for further education).1

Flipping the Thinking on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Why EDI Is Essential for the Development and Progression of the Chemical Sciences: A Case Study Approach.

All learners have a contribution to make to the development of the Chemical Sciences, be that in novel ways to teach, and their perspectives and contexts, but also in research, both in chemical education and the wider Chemical Sciences. Through four case studies, this paper explores interactions with diverse groups and how this has altered perspectives on both teaching and research. The case studies include work with visually impaired adults, a project bringing together First Peoples in Australia with academics to explore old ways (traditional science) and new ways (modern approaches), primary (elementary) school perspectives on teaching science, and a project in South Africa to connect university and township communities. Not only do these case studies demonstrate the immense value these diverse groups bring to our understanding about how to learn, but they also bring new perspectives on how to view and solve chemical problems.

Associations between PM2.5 and O3 exposures and new onset type 2 diabetes in regional and national samples in the United States

BackgroundExposure to particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) has been linked to numerous harmful health outcomes. While epidemiologic evidence has suggested a positive association with type 2 diabetes (T2D), there is heterogeneity in findings. We evaluated exposures to PM2.5 and O3 across three large samples in the US using a harmonized approach for exposure assignment and covariate adjustment. MethodsData were obtained from the Veterans Administration Diabetes Risk (VADR) cohort (electronic health records [EHRs]), the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Disparities in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort (primary data collection), and the Geisinger health system (EHRs), and reflect the years 2003–2016 (REGARDS) and 2008–2016 (VADR and Geisinger). New onset T2D was ascertained using EHR information on medication orders, laboratory results, and T2D diagnoses (VADR and Geisinger) or report of T2D medication or diagnosis and/or elevated blood glucose levels (REGARDS). Exposure was assigned using pollutant annual averages from the Downscaler model. Models stratified by community type (higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, or rural census tracts) evaluated likelihood of new onset T2D in each study sample in single- and two-pollutant models of PM2.5 and O3. ResultsIn two pollutant models, associations of PM2.5, and new onset T2D were null in the REGARDS cohort except for in suburban/small town community types in models that also adjusted for NSEE, with an odds ratio (95% CI) of 1.51 (1.01, 2.25) per 5 μg/m3 of PM2.5. Results in the Geisinger sample were null. VADR sample results evidenced nonlinear associations for both pollutants; the shape of the association was dependent on community type. ConclusionsAssociations between PM2.5, O3 and new onset T2D differed across three large study samples in the US. None of the results from any of the three study populations found strong and clear positive associations.

Provincial Financing During the First Regional Reform. The Arkhangelsk Version

Provincial institutions created by Peter I in 1710 were designed to ensure fiscal mobilisation, large-scale and maximum possible collection of material resources for the needs of warfare and the simultaneous reform of the armed forces. The first Russian governors had extensive administrative powers but, at the same time, they were under the strict financial control of the highest governing bodies: the Senate, its divisions, and the monarch himself. The governors were deprived of legal opportunities to spend at least some of the money collected through the provincial cash desks to ensure the functioning of their apparatus. It was not only about paying salaries to the ranks of provincial administrations, maintaining administrative buildings in working order, and purchasing consumables for office work. There was no money for more substantial expenditures: payment for the travel of numerous commissioners from the centre to the provinces, for the travel of their officials within the provinces, for the fees for the accommodation of these agents, for the expenses of their maintenance, for the payment of various kinds of state works, for the transportation of recruits and material supplies to the centre, i. e. everything that constituted the very essence of the functioning of local authorities. In this paradoxical situation, the main support could only be obtained from the zemstvo self-government bodies. The long-known practice of state bodies of local power being maintained by the population of the uyezd was replenished in the Petrine era with new elements. Lay fees covered the expenses of crown agents sent from the centre to the region and helped pay for some government work within the province. However, the peculiarities of the legislation of the era put the governors and their employees, who shifted the financial burden on the zemstvo, into a risky position. They could be accused of bribery and “unspecified fees” that undermined the solvency of the taxed population. Never previously published documents on Arkhangelsk province discovered by the author of the article reveal the complete picture of the financial support of the township communities of the Dvina uyezd for the activities of the provincial administration in 1711–1713 and the complex vicissitudes of relations between the central and local crown authorities and secular organisations. The documents were archived during the investigation of the case of the Arkhangelsk vice-governor A. A. Kurbatov and reflect one of the investigative episodes of 1716.

Assessing the association between food environment and dietary inflammation by community type: a cross-sectional REGARDS study

BackgroundCommunities in the United States (US) exist on a continuum of urbanicity, which may inform how individuals interact with their food environment, and thus modify the relationship between food access and dietary behaviors.ObjectiveThis cross-sectional study aims to examine the modifying effect of community type in the association between the relative availability of food outlets and dietary inflammation across the US.MethodsUsing baseline data from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (2003–2007), we calculated participants’ dietary inflammation score (DIS). Higher DIS indicates greater pro-inflammatory exposure. We defined our exposures as the relative availability of supermarkets and fast-food restaurants (percentage of food outlet type out of all food stores or restaurants, respectively) using street-network buffers around the population-weighted centroid of each participant’s census tract. We used 1-, 2-, 6-, and 10-mile (~ 2-, 3-, 10-, and 16 km) buffer sizes for higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, and rural community types, respectively. Using generalized estimating equations, we estimated the association between relative food outlet availability and DIS, controlling for individual and neighborhood socio-demographics and total food outlets. The percentage of supermarkets and fast-food restaurants were modeled together.ResultsParticipants (n = 20,322) were distributed across all community types: higher density urban (16.7%), lower density urban (39.8%), suburban/small town (19.3%), and rural (24.2%). Across all community types, mean DIS was − 0.004 (SD = 2.5; min = − 14.2, max = 9.9). DIS was associated with relative availability of fast-food restaurants, but not supermarkets. Association between fast-food restaurants and DIS varied by community type (P for interaction = 0.02). Increases in the relative availability of fast-food restaurants were associated with higher DIS in suburban/small towns and lower density urban areas (p-values < 0.01); no significant associations were present in higher density urban or rural areas.ConclusionsThe relative availability of fast-food restaurants was associated with higher DIS among participants residing in suburban/small town and lower density urban community types, suggesting that these communities might benefit most from interventions and policies that either promote restaurant diversity or expand healthier food options.

Advancing Sustainable-Smart Innovations Through a Transdisciplinary Learning Intervention: Insights From The Quintuple Helix Model

The urgent need to shape the future of societies necessitates complex collaborative partnerships that co-create sustainable solutions. This whilst maintaining a balance between ecological, economic, and sociocultural concerns. The aforementioned creates complexity, calling for a transdisciplinary focus to circumvent the narrow lenses of disciplinary boundaries to develop new systems for educating young professionals. Within this context, we explore how a transdisciplinary learning intervention can result in sustainable-smart innovations that address real-world community challenges. To engage this question, we draw on findings from a longitudinal Design-Based Research (DBR) study that commenced in February 2020. Two iterations of this study have been completed and the third iteration commenced in 2023. Data is drawn from student project artefacts and reflections. This study utilises the potential of transdisciplinary student projects, between urban planning and information system students, and other stakeholders, to develop sustainable-smart innovations. It focuses on community challenges related to SDG 11 as experienced by marginalised township communities in Cape Town, South Africa. The study is founded on key concepts: Education for Sustainable Development, Transdisciplinary, Digital Social Innovations, Society 5.0, and Inclusive collaborative partnerships. These concepts allow the interrogation of the complexities that reside in wicked problems related to the localisation of SDGs. The introduction of the quintuple helix model during the project's third iteration to analyse the wider contribution from different stakeholders and the shift to Mode 3 knowledge application in innovation is of special value. This model lends itself to transdisciplinary methodologies specifically to merge many voices toward sustainable-smart innovations. The co-creation of sustainable-smart innovations involves unifying various stakeholders from academia, industry, government and the community, to jointly develop and implement sustainable and technology-enabled solutions. The contribution of this paper lies in the expansion of discourse on innovations for sustainability through our engagement with the quintuple helix model in a transdisciplinary learning intervention.