Social Sustainability and Ulaanbaatar’s ‘Ger Districts’: Access and Mobility Issues and Opportunities

Iqbal Hamiduddin, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Rebekah Plueckhahn, Uurtsaikh Sangi, Enkhjin Batjargal and Erdenetsogt Sumiyasuren
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Iqbal Hamiduddin: Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, London WC1H 0NN, UK
Daniel Fitzpatrick: Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, London WC1H 0NN, UK
Rebekah Plueckhahn: School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Uurtsaikh Sangi: GerHub, Ulaanbaatar 14251, Mongolia
Enkhjin Batjargal: GerHub, Ulaanbaatar 14251, Mongolia
Erdenetsogt Sumiyasuren: Public Lab Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 14191, Mongolia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: This paper explores the concept of social sustainability in Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts in relation to access and mobility. Although ger districts are well-established in Mongolian culture as ephemeral encampments with transient residents, contemporary ger districts have become large and permanent residential districts that are now home to an estimated one-third of the country’s population. The more recent growth of the ger districts has taken place in three decades since Mongolia embraced market-based liberal economics, coinciding with waves of socially and economically-motivated urbanisation. More recently, difficult environmental conditions in rural Mongolia have created new waves of migration. The unfolding situation means that the ger districts have grown with little of the forward planning present in other built areas of the city. In turn, this has led to significant imbalances in the provision of transport services into the ger districts and the problems of access and mobility that this paper has highlighted. This paper has identified community-based local transport and delivery services as one potential means for addressing existing access and mobility shortcomings. Such approaches could provide temporary or complementary services alongside other public policy approaches.

Keywords: social sustainability; ger districts; access; mobility; Ulaanbaatar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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