Professor Ramin Keivani

This article revisits social sustainability of compact urban neighbourhoods based on first-hand evidence from four case studies in London and Berlin. It suggests a working definition for socially sustainable neighbourhoods, develops a tripartite integrative evaluation framework for measuring social sustainability of urban neighbourhoods, and applies it to four case studies in London and Berlin. Findings of this research are in line with some dominant arguments made in favour of social sustainability of compact urban form, but challenges some others. Research findings suggest that compact urban form is not an urban orthodoxy, but has multiple and contrasting social meanings and perceptions in different contexts and places.

Growing significance of neighbourhoods in different areas of urban planning, along with the increasing attention to the social dimension of sustainable communities and societies, emphasizes the need for conceptualizing socially sustainable neighbourhoods. This article first critically reflects on the concept of socially sustainable neighbourhoods in two areas of definition and operationalization. It then proposes a tripartite framework for measuring social sustainability of urban neighbourhoods which combines three elements of neighbourhood,
neighbouring, and neighbours. This framework is tested, examined, and discussed in the case of Bethnal Green, London. The findings are integrated into a Social Sustainability Enhancement Index which encompasses practical recommendations to promote social sustainability of Bethnal Green. The article concludes with highlighting research and policy implications of the proposed framework, and suggests some methodological improvements for the future research.

Cities are today undergoing major economic and spatial transformations in line with the requirements of global capital and neoliberalism. A main question to address in this scenario is: what is the scope for actions aiming to advance a more pro-poor agenda and curb the acute inequality found in the metropolises of the so-called developing countries? With that concern in mind, this paper examines the potentials and limitations of recent redevelopments in Rio de Janeiro to counteract durable inequality, as conceptualised by Charles Tilly. To do so we analysed secondary evidence and recent primary fieldwork drawing on 48 interviews with a range of stakeholders involved in the city’s preparations for the mega events, urban development and resistance to evictions, particularly in Vila Autódromo and Providência communities. Results show that there is room for progressive intervention and change at the local level if the underlying drivers of structural inequality are appropriately identified and systematically targeted by combined state and social movements’ political actions.  

Despite recent advances in social sustainability discourse, there is a dearth of working definitions and evaluation frameworks regarding measuring social sustainability of neighbourhoods for research, practice, and policy purposes. Building on the qualitative meta-analysis of relevant resources, this article proposes the triad of social sustainability consisting of three pillars of neighbourhood, neighbouring, and neighbours, as a conceptual framework for understanding and measuring social sustainability of neighbourhoods. It introduces relevant indicators for each pillar, suggests advanced techniques for measuring them, and incorporates them into an integrated framework. At the end, significant research and policy implications of the proposed framework are discussed.

– This study aims to explore the development of a new city brand in Saudi Arabia. Place Branding theory is geared towards existing places and does not take into account newly developed cities. Here “Place Branding” takes on a new significance. How do we develop a brand for a city that does not yet exist? Who are the actors involved and how do they influence the process?

Design/methodology/approach

– The study uses discourse analysis to investigate the interplay between actors and place brand development in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) for two separate branding scenarios. It is further structured through the theoretical lens of actor-network theory (ANT) to take advantage of relational aspects that can lend insight on how a brand is created and enacted.

Findings

– Initial findings suggest that branding messages in KAEC are fragmented with little government or other stakeholder involvement leading to poor brand awareness and performance. The study also emphasises the importance of branding practices in the beginning stages of new city development. It further suggests that the message itself, the conceptual place brand, can represent a socially constructed idea or belief that can shape perceptions about the project before physical form is developed.

Originality/value

– The case study in Saudi Arabia will highlight the opportunities and pitfalls associated with place branding in the Middle East while comparing the findings with traditional place-branding approaches in existing cities. By contextualizing discourse analysis research within an ANT-based exploration of the KAEC brand’s gestation in Saudi Arabia, the study highlights the meaningfulness of a place brand construct in the process of city creation.

In its quest for development, Zambia is pursuing a land policy that facilitates privatization of customary land. this article investigates the effects of privatization in terms of how it shapes people's behaviour and perception of private tenure and related tenure dynamics. Findings have shown that the appetite to privatize land is growing stronger in peri-urban areas as land becomes more scarce. Furthermore, privatization of land appears to be a threat to traditional political structures as allegiance and loyalty towards chiefs diminish and tension and struggles over land in peri-urban areas increase. Similarly privatization of land erodes people's faith in the role that cultural and ancestral beliefs play in traditional land management. also, people in rural areas tend to favour private tenure more if 'privatization of customary land' means allocation of land to outsiders. IF, by contrast, the phrase is taken to mean communities registering their own land, peri-urban communities tend to have a stronger desire to register land. Furthermore, rural communities were found to be less informed about land policy and seemed less keen to be involved in land policy processes when compared to peri-urban residents. However, rural people may have no reason to inform themselves about land policy until they realise that the policy is likely to affect them.

The need to ensure a lasting legacy has become an increasing part of Olympic rhetoric. While there is a body of literature which characterises legacy as part of the ‘carnival mask’ of neo-liberal urbanisation and evidence of a globalised urban policy, this article asks the question what can thinking with assemblage offer to a critical understanding of mega-events? The article addresses this question and responds to calls for urban theory to ‘see from the South’, by exploring how legacy has been assembled in two Olympic cities focusing on the role of ‘spatial practices of assemblage’, including city development strategies and global policy mobility. Drawing on empirical work in London and Rio, the article reveals that thinking with assemblage can contribute to a nuanced, yet still critical, understanding of legacy as a contradictory and contested concept which is constantly being made and remade through the contingent practices of Olympic city building. It can also suggest how legacy can be conceived and realised in ways that allow for alternative legacies and forms of urbanisation to emerge but that its potential can only be realised in conjunction with other critical perspectives.

– The relationship between sustainable development and private finance initiative (PFI) procurement systems is clarified, and the current debate on the effectiveness of PFI in the UK and the benefits of PFI to deliver sustainable construction is reviewed. The study develops a sustainability assessment framework encompassing environmental, economic, social and technical aspects through the life cycle of the procurement process. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– A comprehensive literature review develops a conceptual sustainability performance indicators framework. A national questionnaire survey measures existing PFI projects' sustainability performance level.

Findings

– The study provides empirical insights about key performance indicators of sustainable PFI project development and a benchmarking for existing PFI project performance measurement. It suggests that successful sustainable PFI projects should integrate technical aspects into the traditional three dimensions sustainability model and achieve a balance between social and economic performance.

Research limitations/implications

– Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack in-depth analysis of individual projects. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the framework further.

Practical implications

– The sustainability indicator framework proposed in this paper is readily applicable in PFI projects, as well as other types of PPP projects.

Originality/value

– This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the sustainability performance levels achieved could be effectively measured within PFI/PPP projects; while contributing to the debate on benchmarking and measuring sustainability performance in construction.

The built environment sector impacts significantly on communities. At the same time, it is the sector with the highest cost and environmental saving potentials provided effective strategies are implemented. The emerging Semantic Web promises new opportunities for efficient management of information and knowledge about various domains. While other domains, particularly bioinformatics have fully embraced the Semantic Web, knowledge about how the same has been applied to the built environment is sketchy. This study investigates the development and trend of Semantic Web applications in the built environment Understanding the different applications of the Semantic Web is essential for evaluation, improvement and opening of new research. A review of over 120 refereed articles on built environment Semantic Web applications has been conducted. A classification of the different Semantic Web applications in relation to their year of application is presented to highlight the trend. Two major findings have emerged. Firstly, despite limited research about easy-to-use applications, progress is being made from often too-common ontological concepts to more innovative concepts such as Linked Data. Secondly, a shift from traditional construction applications to Semantic Web sustainable construction applications is gradually emerging. To conclude, research challenges, potential future development and research directions have been discussed.

Abstract. The subject of participation is now at the core of many contemporary development debates. This is promoted within the emerging context of moving away from"government" to"governance" as stakeholders are increasingly getting frustrated by governments" continued application of the mundane Decide, Announce, and Defend (DAD) approaches to policy making. However, despite the voluminous amount of literature on participation, there is little scholarly work on whether or how communities, particularly those in rural and periurban locations, participate in land policy processes. This paper examines the extent to which Zambia" s land policy process is participatory on the part of rural/periurban communities. The paper argues that despite its potential, genuine participation of rural communities in land policy processes in Zambia is constrained by cultural/social norms that defer the views of rural communities to those of their traditional rulers. On the other hand, periurban communities are excluded from the participatory agenda by the dynamics surrounding struggles over land and proceeds accruing from land transactions. The implication of these findings is that, since participatory requirements/expectations of rural communities may not necessarily be similar to those of periurban communities, there is need to explore the potential of designing"bespoke" policies that would accommodate the needs of the individual communities.