Evaluating social sustainability in Jordanian residential neighborhoods: a combined expert-user approach

Abstract

Neighborhood sustainability has assumed a pole position as a topic of interest in the past years, addressed through dedicated strands of most of the globally adopted sustainability rating tools, such as LEED and BREEAM. Considering sustainability assessment, the social sustainability of neighborhoods assumes a certain particularity, not only in terms of its high context dependence pertaining to its locality, but in its means of assessment as well, with people as a key potential evaluator for matters that are not bound to quantitative aspects. This research focused on developing a framework for rating social sustainability in neighborhoods, utilizing a quantitative approach that builds upon insights obtained by an extended group of experts and end users. It combines the Delphi and AHP techniques along with the case study approach to develop a framework that suits the Jordanian local context, where a particular neighborhood, Dahiyat Al Hussein in Amman, is used for validation. The research revealed that rating the social sustainability of neighborhoods is not only highly guided by the local context it addresses, but is also reliant on the level of understanding and adoption of the concept itself as attained by the people.

Gender Equality in Architecture and Construction: An Assessment Framework at the Institutional and Sectoral Levels in Jordan

“…Second, the social content within the workplace was prioritised over the more formal aspects, where matters related to the relations between colleagues and facilitated access were prioritised over indicators pertaining to performance criteria and formal setting of responsibilities. This is quite indicative of the cultural context in Jordan [55][56][57].…”

Multiple-Criteria Methods for Assessing Social Sustainability in the Built Environment: A Systematic Review

“…Studies that have examined specific cases concerning their social sustainability have used a range of methods, including SAW [7,18], AHP [64,66,[71][72][73][74], the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) [10], descriptive analysis [59,75,76], social network analysis (SNA) [46,77], the analytic network process (ANP) [50], factor analysis [51,58], and machine-learning techniques [78]. In some other cases, the selected studies have avoided formal methods altogether, opting instead to evaluate the case according to selected criteria [45,61].…”

“…Post-construction, social sustainability involves monitoring and evaluating the social performance of the built environment, by ensuring that it continues to meet the community's [52,58,75] and final user's [15,51,58,67,68,71,72,75,76] needs. This may include assessing the provision of social infrastructure, such as affordable housing, schools, and healthcare facilities [15,71,76], as well as evaluating the project's long-term impact on local economies, cultural heritage, and social cohesion [15,51]. The aim is to foster a built environment that enhances social well-being, promotes social inclusion, and contributes to present and future generations' overall quality of life [15,75].…”

“…Seven of them used the methods to form weighting between the criteria and used the framework to discuss, or analyze, a specific project. As was the case of Sharif et al [71], who used the AHP to aggregate the criteria and to be able to evaluate the social sustainability of a specific neighborhood, or Bui et al [72] who also used AHP, but to assess the social sustainability of groundwater resources.…”

Sustainable Gender Equality: A Comparative Perspective on STEM Education and Employment in Jordan

“…It is widely acknowledged globally that women are not still on par with men in terms of economic opportunities [2] despite enjoying greater educational advancements. This concern is receiving increasing global attention, where studies have shown that the empowerment of women results in better social cohesion and as such, plays an important role in economic development and growth [3], pushing forward the agenda for sustainable development [4,5]. This is particularly evident in the area of STEM, where the inclusion of men and women in a collaborative working relationship promises more elevated levels of innovation and productivity within such an evolving domain [1].…”