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A Critique of the Application of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools in Urban Regeneration

Luke Boyle, Kathy Michell and François Viruly
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Luke Boyle: Urban Real Estate Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
Kathy Michell: Urban Real Estate Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
François Viruly: Urban Real Estate Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701, South Africa

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSA tools) are fast becoming the principal framework for urban planners and developers for promoting urban sustainability. The majority of NSA tools promote a specific type of urban development that effectively excludes regeneration projects from the urban sustainability conversation. Given that the world’s megacities are mostly built, it is argued that it is essential that strategies for global sustainability consider that urban development is focussed internally to address existing, under-serviced communities in particular need of meaningful intervention and sustainable redevelopment frameworks. The paper uses existing knowledge on NSA tools to highlight the shortcomings of outcomes-based approaches to urban governance and builds the case that the technocratic “one-size-fits-all” approach adopted by many tools inadequately accounts for underlying institutional, social and economic arrangements that influence urban development, making them inappropriate for application in both planned and existing communities. The paper proposes that urban redevelopment strategies need to be derived from the urban realities of a particular place or context. Such strategies must be grounded in principles of urban governance, participatory action and an understanding of market dynamics. Without these collaborative procedural frameworks, urban regeneration projects will continue to inadequately transition towards more comprehensive sustainability.

Keywords: sustainability assessment; neighborhood sustainability assessment; urban regeneration; urban development; assessment tools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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