The Role of Neighborhood Origin in the Residential Satisfaction …
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2.4 Sustainable Development Goals
As established in the United Nations’ 11th Sustainable Development Goal, city governments are challenged to ensure that their cities are inclusive, safe, resilient, and
sustainable. The challenge is even more formidable for cities in developing countries
where rapid urbanization has resulted in large populations settling in informal origin
neighborhoods. As the physical and social characteristics of these settlements vary
between cities and within them, government efforts to foster sustainability require
community participation if a stronger understanding of the rights and responsibilities
of living in urban areas is to be achieved.
However, there is an intrinsic distance between informal settlements and the formal structures of the city. Given that this is the case, working toward sustainable
urbanization in developing countries where a high percentage of the population live
in unplanned, unauthorized, and/or inadequately serviced residential areas requires
identifying features that can help bridge the gap between informal and formal lowincome settlements.
To address this challenge, it is useful to explore the concept of social sustainability given its strong connection with issues of accessibility and sense of community.
Researchers have conceptualized social sustainability in terms of two components:
social equity and sustainability of the community. Social equity means having equitable access to community services, whereas sustainability of the community relates
to the ability of a community to continue living as a healthy, functioning, collective
entity (Bramley and Power 2009).
Transitioning from informality to formality in urban areas goes beyond granting
people access to services (Ward et al. 2015). As social sustainability by definition
is concerned with the viability of urban societies in the future, it is fundamental to
ensure that all people feel both that they belong and that they have a role to play in
defining that future (James 2014). To find out what people wish for the future as urban
residents, it is necessary to ask people directly. Participatory processes in housing
delivery have a long history with varying levels of success (Lara 2012). However, it
is reasonable to assume that if people are to feel that they are part of a community it
is better to encourage participation than to restrict it.
A community-centered approach can be useful in assessing neighborhood sustainability. Whereas a healthy community supports the preservation of social aspects,
RS helps to identify the connections between built environment characteristics and
social aspects that for a given community are either worth sustaining or in need of
addressing in some way. In the present study, the results presented derive from a
community-centered approach to assessing RS by capturing residents’ perceptions
of their lives in relation to the residential environment in the context of low-income
housing in formal origin and informal origin neighborhoods.
435
2.4 Sustainable Development Goals
As established in the United Nations’ 11th Sustainable Development Goal, city governments are challenged to ensure that their cities are inclusive, safe, resilient, and
sustainable. The challenge is even more formidable for cities in developing countries
where rapid urbanization has resulted in large populations settling in informal origin
neighborhoods. As the physical and social characteristics of these settlements vary
between cities and within them, government efforts to foster sustainability require
community participation if a stronger understanding of the rights and responsibilities
of living in urban areas is to be achieved.
However, there is an intrinsic distance between informal settlements and the formal structures of the city. Given that this is the case, working toward sustainable
urbanization in developing countries where a high percentage of the population live
in unplanned, unauthorized, and/or inadequately serviced residential areas requires
identifying features that can help bridge the gap between informal and formal lowincome settlements.
To address this challenge, it is useful to explore the concept of social sustainability given its strong connection with issues of accessibility and sense of community.
Researchers have conceptualized social sustainability in terms of two components:
social equity and sustainability of the community. Social equity means having equitable access to community services, whereas sustainability of the community relates
to the ability of a community to continue living as a healthy, functioning, collective
entity (Bramley and Power 2009).
Transitioning from informality to formality in urban areas goes beyond granting
people access to services (Ward et al. 2015). As social sustainability by definition
is concerned with the viability of urban societies in the future, it is fundamental to
ensure that all people feel both that they belong and that they have a role to play in
defining that future (James 2014). To find out what people wish for the future as urban
residents, it is necessary to ask people directly. Participatory processes in housing
delivery have a long history with varying levels of success (Lara 2012). However, it
is reasonable to assume that if people are to feel that they are part of a community it
is better to encourage participation than to restrict it.
A community-centered approach can be useful in assessing neighborhood sustainability. Whereas a healthy community supports the preservation of social aspects,
RS helps to identify the connections between built environment characteristics and
social aspects that for a given community are either worth sustaining or in need of
addressing in some way. In the present study, the results presented derive from a
community-centered approach to assessing RS by capturing residents’ perceptions
of their lives in relation to the residential environment in the context of low-income
housing in formal origin and informal origin neighborhoods.