Assessing the effect of urban form on social sustainability: a proposed ‘Integrated Measuring Tools Method’ for urban neighborhoods in Dubai

Abstract

Among the three pillars of sustainability, social sustainability has received the least attention, especially among the studies addressing the sustainable housing development in Dubai’s urban neighborhoods. Unfortunately, these neighborhoods are not showing enough vibrancy of their public spaces and amenities which seemingly undermined their social sustainability. The lack of a comprehensive tool that can assess the interlinked indicators of social sustainability in urban neighborhoods has urged the research to propose an Integrated Measuring Tools Method (IMTM), that incorporates relevant computational simulation techniques alongside the appropriate conventional qualitative tools. The proposed IMTM was utilized in assessing the social sustainability indicators within the urban form of an existing neighborhood in Dubai. The assessment revealed that various urban form characteristics including; density, land-use, mobility options, mobility networks, streets layouts, and the built environment’s safety and aesthetic qualities, are the main factors undermining social sustainability in the studied locality. The results informed a set of suggested redevelopment strategies/guidelines for this neighborhood that takes into consideration the exiting constraints and opportunities. These included; increasing density by infill development, redefining land-use to achieve diversity in housing types and decentralized amenities, diversifying mobility options, improving the spatial integration of the mobility networks while restraining the private cars movement, improving accessibility, enriching urban landscape, and finally enhancing the quality of amenities and services. A social sustainability redevelopment scenario was suggested based on these strategies. When compared to the exiting neighborhood utilizing the IMTM, it proved significantly better attainment of social sustainability principles. So, it might be claimed that the proposed IMTM and its outcomes proved to be a valid basis for assessing, redeveloping and validating social sustainability of existing neighborhoods with similar typology in Dubai, and potentially in the region.

An Inclusive Model for Assessing Age-Friendly Urban Environments in Vulnerable Areas

“…Therefore, some authors connect this to social sustainability and social justice concepts [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In line with this, some authors point out some factors, such as density, accessibility, mobility, integration (connections and street networks), diversity of services, mixed use, environmental quality, safety, and social capital (sense of belonging, participation) [25], while others highlight that accessibility and quality of social life, conservation of resources, quality of built environments, protecting disadvantaged groups, and commercial and economic opportunities are observed in urban renewal practices [26]. Some factors underlying social factors have been suggested, such as health and physical comfort, accessibility, integration, economy, and participation [27].…”

Social sustainability in construction projects: Perception versus reality and the gap-filling strategies

“…However, a holistic approach on the subsequent steps, which is strategies to improve the SS attainment from the evaluation of the real practices, has been Frontiers in Built Environment frontiersin.org less emphasised. Similarly, Alipour and Galal Ahmed (2021) and Karji et al (2019) have established a set of sustainability attributes to assess the effects of SS for urban neighbourhoods in Dubai. Nonetheless, there were no suggestions, particularly from the expert respondents, to improve the state of SS in the investigated projects.…”

“…Similar approaches can be seen in previous studies-e.g., in New Zealand (Sajjad & Shahbaz, 2020) and in the United States (Suh et al, 2016), where sustainability training programs could result in improved sustainable construction initiatives. However, as noted by Lim et al (2015), accreditation bodies need to alert on the importance and the urgency in the development of SS education as currently, the sustainability topics embedded in courses only covers fundamental sustainability categories, which are more focused on environmental and economic issues (Alipour & Galal Ahmed, 2021).…”

Evaluación de la vulnerabilidad del espacio público para lograr ciudades más inclusivas para las personas mayores. Estudio de caso

“…La evaluación del espacio público y su relación con la inclusión de las personas mayores, de acuerdo con todas las fuentes consultadas, no es completa si no se tienen en cuenta las vertientes: técnica y social como reflejan numerosos estudios. En el ámbito más técnico y urbano se han incrementado estos trabajos en los últimos años (Arjona, 2015 ;Hong & Shin, 2016 ;Tang et al, 2020 ;Yıldız et al, 2020 ;Mercader-Moyano et al, 2020;Shan et al, 2020 ;Alipour & Galal Ahmed, 2021). El interés por abordar aspectos sociales también se refleja en diferentes trabajos (Bagnato & Sarlo, 2019;Giménez-Bertomeu et al, 2020;Fung, 2020;Carroll et al, 2020;Del Barrio et al, 2021;Hoof & Marston, 2021;Bayar & Türkoğlu, 2021).…”

“…Por ello, esta investigación, se orientará tratando de considerar ambas perspectivas, arquitectónica-urbana y social, con el fin de relacionar la formación del tejido urbano físico con el tejido social formado por la ciudadanía. Desde un enfoque social, en un mundo global en el que la pobreza y la desigualdad crecen, se ha extendido el concepto de justicia espacial, y los problemas sociales se reflejan en el aspecto geográfico, ya que las injusticias suceden en espacios concretos, por lo que el objetivo es lograr la inclusión social para todos y todas (Alipour & Galal Ahmed, 2021;Almahmoud & Doloi, 2020;Pitarch-Garrido et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2018;Yıldız et al, 2020).…”