Interpreting ‘the social’: Exploring processes of social sustainability in Danish nonprofit housing

Abstract

The article addresses the 11 th UN sustainable development goal about sustainable cities and communities. It analyses how notions of 'the social' come across in relation to social sustainability in a case study of a renovation project in the non-profit housing sector in Denmark-a project which has social sustainability as a core concern. The process is analysed by distilling various understandings of 'the social' appearing in the project and herein the different types of participation that these understandings relate to. The analysis demonstrates that working with social sustainability and the aims and ideals associated with it is not straight forward, since 'social sustainability' is not a tangible target, but rather something which is reinterpreted and subject to changing perceptions along the process. The dynamic and changing character of 'sociality' suggests that social sustainability requires a focus on the conditions and ongoing processes and interactions, which continuously constitute the social life and relations between residents in a neighborhood. Thus, a careful attention to context is suggested. In this manner, the article adds to empirical knowledge about processes organised to strengthen social sustainability in urban environments and contributes theoretically with a nuanced understanding of what the 'social' denotes in the context of sustainable development.

Planning for Urban Social Sustainability: Towards a Human-Centred Operational Approach

“…The growing number of studies on social sustainability have not led to a single definition of it, but rather to a comprehensive scrutiny of the values, principles and indicators of what social sustainability is about [15][16][17]. As Shirazi and Keivani [18] (p. 1539) identify, "different approaches to social sustainability have resulted in a fragmented, sometimes contradictory, body of literature."…”

Implementing social sustainability in area development projects in the Netherlands

“…The 'just city' models proclaims that in a neo-liberal societal context, incomes and public resources have become more unequally distributed in cities and that inequality must be overcome by an active role of urban planners (Fainstein & DeFilippis, 2015, p.8). While a theoretical debate on a conceptual and normative level can lead to initial planning principles built on values such as equality, diversity and democracy, the discussion of social sustainability at a further 'stage' of urban development is concerned with the operationalization of social sustainability in urban areas through urban development programmes (Elander & Gustavsson, 2019;Vranken et al, 2003) or urban development projects (Dixon & Woodcraft, 2013;Langergaard, 2019).…”

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“…The 'just city' models proclaims that in a neo-liberal societal context, incomes and public resources have become more unequally distributed in cities and that inequality must be overcome by an active role of urban planners (Fainstein & DeFilippis, 2015, p.8). While a theoretical debate on a conceptual and normative level can lead to initial planning principles built on values such as equality, diversity and democracy, the discussion of social sustainability at a further 'stage' of urban development is concerned with the operationalization of social sustainability in urban areas through urban development programmes Vranken et al, 2003) or urban development projects Langergaard, 2019).…”