تقییم ممارسات المدن الجامعیة نحو الاستجابة لمتطلبات التنمیة المستدامة

Abstract

University student hostels not only can promote sustainability by adopting its features on their practices, but they also can develop the culture of sustainability in society. That is why hostels can be considered as small cities due to their large size, population, and the various complex practices taking place on their operation. This study aims to evaluate economic, social, and environmental practices of university student hostels towards meeting the requirements of sustainable development (SD). Data were collected by developed questionnaire. Originally, 180 questionnaire forms were distributed to employees of different six university student hostels. Only 105 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 58.3%. Data were statistically analyzed by using frequencies & percentages, Spearman correlation coefficient, and regression analysis. The findings of the study indicate that the majority of economic, social, and environmental requirements are not being implemented with sufficient strength into hostels' practices. The factors influenced sustainability of practices was all positively confirmed by findings of the empirical study. Awareness of management had the highest influence on sustainability of practices, followed by leadership & management attitude, participation willingness of employees, and finally the contribution of stakeholders. In addition, the most challenges and obstacles encounter hostels were financial challenges, lack of awareness, the shortage of information on programs and fixtures associated with SD, and insufficiency of current legislation. The study concluded providing a framework and some recommendations to implement sustainability into hostel operations.