Including local actors' perspective in neighborhood sustainability assessment: evidence from Dubai's sustainable city

Dessouky, Nermin; Wheeler, Stephen M.; Salama, Ashraf M.

doi:10.1108/sasbe-03-2023-0052

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The neighborhood has 590 residential units, a school, and a commercial area with other mixed-use services, such as a rehabilitation center, an innovation center, and an equestrian club. The first resident moved in in 2015, and the development was fully occupied in 2020 with a population of 3000 residents (Dessouky et al 2023). As its name implies, TSC is promoted as a sustainability showcase, with 10 megawatts of on-site solar production, urban farming, on-site water recycling, waste sorting, and pedestrianized car-free streets (Figure 2).…”

Section: Introducing the Methods And Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While these factors play a significant role, it is equally important to understand the perceptions, attitudes, and views of developers and various stakeholders towards regulations and voluntary assessment tools. Additionally, exploring the priority of assessment parameters is critical in the context of sustainability assessment through robust post-occupancy evaluation (POE) studies (Dessouky et al 2023). By conducting thorough examinations of these aspects, we can gain valuable insights into how real estate developers can contribute to sustainable practices and shape the future of urban development.…”

Section: Evaluating Neighborhoods Through Mainstream Post-occupancy S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Five Controversies of Market-Driven Sustainable Neighborhoods: An Alternative Approach to Post-Occupancy Evaluation

2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increased involvement of the private sector in building sustainable communities is often met with skepticism from sustainability experts and academics. Although environmental experts and engineers may wish to focus on the technical design features and green rating of such projects to validate their sustainability, data are sometimes lacking, and social scientists may criticize projects’ social impacts and portray them as greenwashing sustainability. More holistic and evidence-based attempts are needed to understand post-occupancy performance in a way that targets the core obstacles to sustainability. This paper investigates the fundamental challenges of the market model of sustainable neighborhoods by using a qualitative post-occupancy evaluation method. We map core controversies through the lenses of different actors and ask how such challenges can be addressed in future developments. We interviewed 46 actors in The Sustainable City—a 590-unit residential development in Dubai. Through inductive analysis, we mapped five central controversies: The Branding Controversy; The Innovation Controversy; The Behavior Controversy; The Governance Controversy, and The Market Controversy. Such controversies appear fundamentally associated with the performance of privately developed sustainable neighborhoods. We present recommendations to resolve such controversies in future developments, including the clearer communication of goals and behavior expectations to residents, the ongoing education of residents, careful testing of technologies, the necessary steps by developers and local municipalities to promote affordability and equity, and resident representative committees in order to enhance civic agency.

show abstract

Section: Introducing the Methods And Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evaluating Neighborhoods Through Mainstream Post-occupancy S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Five Controversies of Market-Driven Sustainable Neighborhoods: An Alternative Approach to Post-Occupancy Evaluation

2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent studies have placed emphasis on three angles: (a) developing frameworks and indicators for resilience (Clarke et al ., 2020; Abusaada and Elshater, 2023a; Osei-Kyei et al ., 2023); (b) examining specific city cases (Peres et al. , 2017; Slaev and Nedovic-Budic, 2017); and (c) examining a specific type of crisis in specific contexts (Majewska et al ., 2022; Abusaada and Elshater, 2023b), or focusing on sustainability at micro scale (Dessouky et al ., 2023a, b). While these studies offer important insights on sustainable urban development and urban resilience as they relate to cities, settlements, or neighbourhoods, recent research interests do not appear to establish a wider inclusive schema on urban resilience and sustainability in cities that have experienced crisis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban resilience and sustainability through and beyond crisis – evidence-based analysis and lessons learned from selected European cities

Salama,

Patil,

MacLean

2023

SASBE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeDespite striving for resilience and a sustainable urban future, European cities face a multitude of crisis caused by both natural and human-induced risks. This paper asks two key questions: How have cities experienced and managed crises situations they encountered? and What are the plans and actions for embedding sustainability at a local level within a clear decision-making structure? Hence, it aims to examine urban resilience in the context of urban crisis and the associated health concerns that took place because of crisis situations, while identifying sustainable urban development initiatives and strategies that were conceived and implemented beyond crisis.Design/methodology/approachAn evidence-based analytical approach is undertaken following two lines of inquiry. The first is case-based and identifies 11 cities that have experienced crisis situations and a further 10 cities that have instigated urban resilience strategies. The second is theme-based and engages with identifying strategies relevant to sustainable urban development at city and project levels. The outcomes of the two lines of inquiry are verified by mapping the lessons learned from the analysis to recent international guidance and a further co-visioning workshop with 6 experts.FindingsThe evidence-based analysis reveals key lessons which were classified under two primary types of findings: (a) lessons learned for a future urban resilience resulting from the 1st line of Inquiry (case-based) and (b) lessons learned for a future sustainable urban development resulting from the 2nd line of inquiry (theme-based). The verified lessons provide four areas that can be utilised as key priorities for future urban resilience and sustainable urban development including (a) Governance, effective communication, and decision making for city resilience and urban sustainability; (b) the social dimension of resilience and participatory practices for sustainable urban development; (c) from implicit strategies for health to positive impact on health; and (d) diversification of initiatives and localisation of sustainable development endeavours.Research limitations/implicationsThere is always limitation on what a bibliometrics analysis can offer in terms of the nature of evidence and the type of knowledge generated from the investigation. This limitation manifests in the fact that the analysis engages with the body of knowledge but not based on engaging physically or socially with the contexts within which the cases took place or through empirical investigations including systematic observations, focused interviews, and attitude surveys. While the study does not generate empirical findings, the rigour of the bibliometrics analysis offers a credible and reliable evidence on how cities experienced and managed crises situations and their current plans and priority actions for embedding and localising sustainable development measures.Practical implicationsThis research conveys significant implications for policy, practice, and action in that it crystalises the view that understanding urban resilience and sustainability, at the city or urban level, requires coupling the two. The findings offer a solid foundation for a more contextualised, evidence-based examination of urban resilience and sustainability during and beyond crisis. Highlighting urban and health challenges that emerged from experienced crisis situations, how these were managed and developing an understanding of sustainable urban development and local resilience strategies elucidate insights that can be adopted and acted upon by city councils and built environment practitioners.Originality/valueThe analysis provides comprehensive insights into urban resilience and sustainable urban development at both city and continental Europe scales in the form of key lessons that represent the first step towards developing rudiments for building a better urban future. Little is known about resilience and sustainability at these scales. The originality of this work lies in the breadth and depth for capturing an inclusive understanding of urban resilience and sustainable urban development based on systematic inquiry and scrutinising the body of knowledge emerged over the past 2 decades.

show abstract

Analytical hierarchy process for ranking green neighbourhood efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region

Asaad,

Hassan,

Elshater

et al. 2023

ARCH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeResearch on green certificate rankings in the MENA region primarily focuses on building scale, relying on the certified project count. This assessment approach overlooks the spatial factor, failing to capture their influence on the urban built environment, thus potentially undermining other efforts not reflected by the project count. This research aims to rank countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region based on their ongoing efforts regarding green neighbourhood certification.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a three-phase methodology to rank MENA countries' adoption of green neighbourhood certification systems: content analysis, multicriteria analysis (MCA) using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and spatial analysis.FindingsBased on the content analysis, four major performance indicators were identified and the conventional ranking using projects count was presented. Using AHP, the MCA could rank the countries in the region according to their unique performance indicators score, clarifying the differences between conventional and AHP-based rankings. Finally, the spatial analysis phase uncovers shortcomings in the traditional ranking method, revealing inaccuracies and misrepresentations for several countries.Originality/valueThe study presents an innovative ranking methodology to monitor the green neighbourhood actions of countries in future development and establish a pioneering framework to evaluate the impact of green certifications within the region.

show abstract

Including local actors' perspective in neighborhood sustainability assessment: evidence from Dubai's sustainable city

Cited by 3 publications

References 35 publications

The Five Controversies of Market-Driven Sustainable Neighborhoods: An Alternative Approach to Post-Occupancy Evaluation

The Five Controversies of Market-Driven Sustainable Neighborhoods: An Alternative Approach to Post-Occupancy Evaluation

Urban resilience and sustainability through and beyond crisis – evidence-based analysis and lessons learned from selected European cities

Analytical hierarchy process for ranking green neighbourhood efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About