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The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2019) | Viewed by 66129

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lauren Withycombe Keeler

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Guest Editor

Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5603, USA
Interests: sustainability science; climate change; future studies; scenario planning; serious gaming

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

What will communities of the future look like? As climate change threatens the resilience of the contemporary built environment and nation state—the very core of what makes us feel modern—this Special Issue invites papers that turn inward and consider who we are as individuals and communities in this changing world. Sustainability science has relied heavily on the natural sciences to help flesh out what exactly this grand experiment, now called the athropocene, is really doing to our planet. Many have asserted that there are fundamental natural processes that have crossed critical thresholds, so called planetary boundaries, beyond which we can never return. So what lies ahead for mankind as we attempt to make meaning and community in yet another new frontier? Interested authors should submit theoretical or research papers that contend with the future of sustainable communities, how they are conceived, planned, designed, and realized amidst the breaching of boundaries and the obduracy of our infrastructure and habits of mind. We invite authors to submit work that attempts to define and create sustainable communities in the present, as well as work that explores alternative futures and their implications for sustainable communities. Communities are not limited to geographic communities and authors considering cultural, interest-based and virtual communities, among others, are invited to submit their works.

Dr. Lauren Withycombe Keeler
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Keywords

sustainable communities
sustainability
futures
planning
design
planetary boundaries
resilience

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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25 pages, 2788 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Endogenous Political, Institutional, Cultural, and Geographic Determinants of Intermunicipal Cooperation—Evidence from Slovakia

by Katarína Melichová and Lukáš Varecha

Sustainability 2020, 12(2), 709; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12020709 - 18 Jan 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3015

Abstract

All over Europe, but especially in post-communist countries, the institutional environment has been undergoing major changes. In Slovakia, regaining their autonomy has led local governments on the path of fragmentation, unsustainably high expenditures for the provision of public services, and an increase in transaction costs. Current policies targeting these issues are heavily focused on intermunicipal cooperation (IMC). Based on four case studies of different institutional arrangements, this paper aims to investigate which endogenous political, institutional, cultural, and geographic factors influence cooperation among Slovak municipalities. Through the application of social network analysis and regression analysis, we reached several relevant conclusions. A number of common assumptions were confirmed, namely that population size and heterogeneity play a major role, but also that the impact of political affiliation as a deciding factor of IMC is not as straightforward as previous evidence suggested. Results also underline the importance of cross-sectoral partnerships such as the EU’s LEADER initiative as a viable alternative to more traditional forms of IMC (but with some limitations). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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24 pages, 2562 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Social Media Can Foster Social Innovation in Disadvantaged Rural Communities

by Kenichiro Onitsuka

Sustainability 2019, 11(9), 2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092697 - 12 May 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 10678

Abstract

Social innovation has received widespread attention in the rural development field, especially its contribution to future rural sustainability. Social innovation revolves around social networks. Rural areas, however, can be relatively disadvantaged by their geographical peripherality. Social media, therefore, has strong potential to foster social innovation by enabling remote communication, but in rural areas, social media use may be low because of an aging and decreasing population. This study examined community-level adoption and use of social media in rural areas in Japan, with a focus on Facebook, for the purpose of sharing community information and facilitating networking with a variety of actors to promote rural social innovation. The study involved a comprehensive search and case studies targeting 139,063 rural communities and 10,922 rural joint-communities, all of which are legally designated agricultural communities throughout Japan. The search found that disadvantaged rural communities’ adoption of Facebook was scarce, and most of the communities that had adopted Facebook did not expand their social networks. Furthermore, investigation into the communities that had adopted social networking to a larger extent revealed that external supporters or migrants had essential roles in successful networking. Based on the obtained findings, this study has provided insights for future policy design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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16 pages, 2117 KiB

Open AccessArticle

University-Community Partnerships: A Local Planning Co-Production Study on Calabarzon, Philippines

by Lovely S. Mores, Jeongwoo Lee and Woongkyoo Bae

Sustainability 2019, 11(7), 1850; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11071850 - 27 Mar 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 10458

Abstract

University-community partnerships provide opportunities for collaborations and meaningful engagement with community partners, in order to promote sustainable community development. To date, studies on university-community partnerships have largely neglected partnership potential and readiness prior to partnership formation. These factors enable expectations and targets to be negotiated and potential problems to be anticipated, prior to any formal collaboration. Hence, this study investigates the optimal preconditions—including environment, resources, and motivation—to facilitate successful university-community collaboration for local urban planning. Specifically, a sample of local government units (LGUs) and universities in the Calabarzon region of the Philippines were interviewed and observed to determine their needs and access to planning resources at universities, as well as factors that would ensure sustained partnerships. The results show that there is a need for university-community partnerships in local planning, since LGUs have limited technical capacity in preparing comprehensive land use plans, particularly with respect to data analysis, technical writing, project development, and hazard mapping. Conversely, LGUs have more financial resources than universities. Local universities were determined to be uniquely suited to meet the technical and human resource needs of LGUs. Importantly, though, previous partnership experience was found to dramatically influence both parties’ decisions regarding whether or not to pursue a partnership. Accordingly, there is a need to temper the desires and expectations of partner organizations, and lay down the foundations of sustainable university-community partnership prior to partnership formation. Toward this end, policies that bolster partnership institutionalization, funding, and systematic monitoring and evaluation systems can enhance the utility of such partnerships moving forward. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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20 pages, 1546 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Residential Greenery: State of the Art and Health-Related Ecosystem Services and Disservices in the City of Berlin

by Luca Battisti, Lauranne Pille, Thomas Wachtel, Federica Larcher and Ina Säumel

Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1815; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061815 - 26 Mar 2019

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 6749

Abstract

Inclusively accessible green areas are essential for livable cities. The residential greenery on a door’s step of urban dwellers has rarely been the subject of research. Here we provide insights into the state of the art of residential greenery in Berlin, Germany. We focus on socially disadvantaged neighborhoods exposed to high loads of environmental stressors and belonging to four relevant building types of Central European cities. 32 plots in eight sample areas were randomly chosen and surveyed during 2017 and 2018. We surveyed the presence of structural elements, the presence and abundance of woody species and the health-related ecosystem (dis-)services (i.e., species’ air filtration and allergenic potential). We analysed the similarity among tree species to assess plant use patterns. The air cleaning and allergenic potential of woody species were assigned based on literature. In order to discuss strategies to improve residential greenery, we performed an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of these green spaces. We revealed a high dissimilarity of woody species assemblages across sites and within different building types, indicating no common plant use fashion. Recorded species provide moderate to high air filtering capacity. One to two third of all trees have a high allergenic potential that has to be addressed in future plant use decisions. Bike racks, benches, lights and playgrounds are common elements, whereas bioswales, facade-bound greening, atrium, fountains or ponds are rare. Their implementation can enhance the health and wellbeing of local residents. Building-attached greenery can improve densely built up areas of the Wilhelminian period, whereas space-intensive measures can be implemented in the spacious greenery of row–buildings settlements of the 1920s–1970s and of large housing estates of the 1970s–1980s. We revealed a high motivation for (co-)design and care by residents and discussed strategies on transformation towards multi-functional, healthy and biodiversity-friendly residential greeneries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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21 pages, 536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vitalizing Rural Communities: China’s Rural Entrepreneurial Activities from Perspective of Mixed Embeddedness

by Huasheng Zhu, Yawei Chen and Kebi Chen

Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1609; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061609 - 17 Mar 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4595

Abstract

Rural entrepreneurial activities play an important role in the development of rural economies and the vitality of rural areas, and they can also contribute to an increase in the employment opportunities of farmers and environmental sustainability during China’s transitional period. As a local organization, the community connects individuals, collective agencies, local authorities, and the market in reforming rural economies in China. Based on the concepts of mixed embeddedness and on the database of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper uses a binary logistic regression (BLR) model to analyze the impact of social, institutional, and economic environments of rural communities on entrepreneurship. The finding shows that informal, entrepreneurship-oriented institutions in rural communities have more significantly positive impact on farmer entrepreneurship than formal institutions, as well as economic and social environments. Furthermore, compared with kinship, neighborhood relationships and weak ties based on the population mobility in rural communities are more important for farmer entrepreneurship. Additionally, rural communities are the production places and markets, and their economic levels are positively related to entrepreneurship. Last but not least, compared with urban communities, rural communities play a much more prominent role in local entrepreneurship. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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14 pages, 2691 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measuring Community Greening Merging Multi-Source Geo-Data

by Weiying Gu, Yiyong Chen and Muye Dai

Sustainability 2019, 11(4), 1104; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11041104 - 20 Feb 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3827

Abstract

Urban residential greening provides opportunities for social integration and physical exercise. These activities are beneficial to promoting citizens’ mental health, relieving stress, and reducing obesity and violent crimes. However, how to measure the distribution and spatial difference of green resources in urban residential areas have been controversial. This study takes the greening of urban residential units in Shenzhen City as its research object, measures the various greening index values of each residential unit, and analyses the spatial distribution characteristics of residential greening, regional differences, and influencing factors. A large sample of street view pictures, urban land use and high-resolution remote sensing image data are employed to establish an urban residential greening database containing 14,196 residential units. This study proposes three greening indicators, namely, green coverage index, green view index, and accessible public green land index, for measuring the green coverage of residential units, the visible greening of surrounding street space and the public green land around, respectively. Results show that (1) the greening level of residential units in Shenzhen City is generally high, with the three indicators averaging 32.7%, 30.5%, and 15.1%, respectively; (2) the types of residential greening differ per area; and (3) the level of residential greening is affected by development intensity, location, elevation and residential type. Such findings can serve as a reference for improving the greening level of residential units. This study argues that one indicator alone cannot measure the greenness of a residential community. It proposes an accessible public green land index as a measure for the spatial relationship between residential units and green lands. It suggests that future green space planning should pay more attention to the spatial distribution of green land, and introduce quantitative indicators to ensure sufficient green lands around the walking range of residential areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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20 pages, 2615 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Rural Tourism in Georgia in Transition: Challenges for Regional Sustainability

by Lela Khartishvili, Andreas Muhar, Thomas Dax and Ioseb Khelashvili

Sustainability 2019, 11(2), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020410 - 15 Jan 2019

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 14215

Abstract

Tourism in rural regions of Georgia has a long tradition; however, many structures had been developed during Soviet times under the framework of a centrally planned economy and forced collectivism. Today, Rural Tourism is widely discussed by the national government and international cooperation partners as a means for regional development and as an alternative source of employment in agricultural areas and mountain regions. The purpose of this study is to develop suggestions for the institutionalization of Rural Tourism in the country and to propose relevant actions. Research methods comprised a document analysis, qualitative interviews with various stakeholders, and focus group discussions. We analyzed recent tendencies and challenges of rural tourism development in Georgia with a focus on the concept of community-based tourism and integrated rural development. We also review the challenges of the current structure of tourism marketing on the national level with regard to Rural Tourism products. The key findings of the research include recommendations to create a central leading structure for rural tourism at the national level, which will work on strategic issues and general norms of Rural Tourism. At the same time, we propose the development of destination management organizations, which will integrate general provisions in regional legislation and marketing in close cooperation with local stakeholders. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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25 pages, 7612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Analysis of Green Space Network Planning for the Cooling Effect of Residential Blocks in Summer: A Case Study in Shanghai

by Yunfang Jiang, Danran Song, Tiemao Shi and Xuemei Han

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3189; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093189 - 6 Sep 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4776

Abstract

The effect of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) is becoming increasingly serious in cities. Research on the adaptive planning policies for microthermal environments at the residential block level of cities is thus becoming of greater significance. Based on the cooling effect of planning control elements in residential block areas, the element effects characteristics of water bodies and vegetation distribution on the thermal environment of residential blocks were analyzed by using ENVI-met software. The simulation data analysis showed that the combination of water bodies and vegetation had a synergistic cooling effect. Based on these results, simulations of five effective adaptive measures were carried out step by step in planning scenarios, that is, improving the water bodies with vegetation corridors, the application of high-albedo material on streets, and increasing the number of green patches, east-west green corridors, and north-south green corridors. The results were as follows. First, although each of the five optimization strategies have a certain degree of cooling effect on the entire block, the superposition of each factor had a synergistic effect. Second, different spatial optimization strategies had different cooling ranges for each subzone. The optimization of the north-south green corridor, green patches, and water features corridors were particularly significant for microclimate cooling. The east-west green corridor has a certain influence on a certain range of downwind zones and had an auxiliary cooling effect. The high-albedo material also had a weak overall decrease function for the thermal environment. Finally, the downwind area of the urban creek network had a great impact on cooling intensity, with distance attenuation characteristics; it was also proposed that the comprehensive cooling effect of the green space network with optimized layout was greater than that of any single green space element. The optimization scenario planning research provided a method for improving the scientific distribution of adaptation measures in urban residential blocks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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Review

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22 pages, 407 KiB

Open AccessReview

Towards a Reflexive Framework for Fostering Co—Learning and Improvement of Transdisciplinary Collaboration

by Marina Knickel, Karlheinz Knickel, Francesca Galli, Damian Maye and Johannes S. C. Wiskerke

Sustainability 2019, 11(23), 6602; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236602 - 22 Nov 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6718

Abstract

Scholars in sustainability science as well as research funders increasingly recognize that a shift from disciplinary and interdisciplinary science to transdisciplinary (TD) research is required to address ever more complex sustainability challenges. Evidence shows that addressing real-world societal problems can be best achieved through collaborative research where diverse actors contribute different kinds of knowledge. While the potential benefits of TD research are widely recognized, its implementation remains a challenge. In this article, we develop a framework that supports reflection and co-learning. Our approach fosters monitoring of the collaboration processes, helps to assess the progress made and encourages continuous reflection and improvement of the research processes. The TD co-learning framework has four dimensions and 44 criteria. It is based on a substantial literature review and was tested in a Horizon 2020-funded research project ROBUST, which is applying experimental governance techniques to improve rural-urban relations in eleven European regions. The results demonstrate that the framework covers the key facets of TD collaboration and that all four broad dimensions matter. Each research-practice team reflected on how their collaboration is going and what needs to be improved. Indeed, the coordination team was able to see how well TD collaboration is functioning at a project level. We believe the framework will be valuable for actors involved in the planning and implementation of any type of multi-actor, interactive, innovation, transformation and action-oriented research project. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Sustainable Communities: Planning, Design and Implementation)

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