Malmo University

Sustainable Urban Management

2010

Home Exam 2

Module 2
“Social (urban) Sustainability”
Prof.Joseph Strahl

Gilda Yadollahy Sheikh

 Gilda Yadollahi Sheikh

Exam Module 2

A:
after reading some definitions of social sustainability from the class lecture and some books, my
definition is based on reading of social sustainability in urban areas(1) ,actually social sustainability is a
relationship between human and environment so human activity has direct relation to the improvement
of the nature and human quality of life.in the other hand social sustainability is meeting the human basic
needs, by encouraging and increasing public culture, participant and social mobility, self-determination
social integration and responsibility also keep and develop of the stock of the social capital that has good
influence in development and decision making .some social sustainability indicators are the education
,employment, income, consumption ,crime rate, density and for the residents facilities such as transport
system, green places, sanitation, medical and public services, school ,shopping center and so on .

Social sustainability is bases on some components; social well-being and social equity and sustainability
of the community, according to sustainability agenda social sustainability is encouragement of social
integration to improve quality of life by social justice and for all levels of people and also distributing all
resources such as job, house and public services fairly.

Different dimensions of sustainability development are connected together it means that social
sustainability has direct relation to environment and economic sustainability to make and preserve
nature and human basic needs in long time so the dimensions cannot be independent and their
application individually will be limited, by balancing and integrating the social , economic and
environmental components of the community and meet the needs of human generations and to let and
respect the communities to make their own area sustainable will result in development of
sustainability.in this process human and ecosystem time scales is very important as everything is under
the change over the time and more development sustainability always occur in define place and time
scale.

Social Sustainability is differ in different places for example in compact cities for the high density and
other reasons it needs to make the city sustainable ,it should have public transport system and make the
public service to be accessible for the residents and reduce social integration and create sense of
participant in the communities.

Of course it is the definition of social sustainability in urban and if want to define it in every subject and
fields this definition should be add or change in some cases, so the weakness of this definition is that
maybe it’s very general, but I tried to show in brief the important sectors of social sustainability that I
learned by the lectures and books and also during our group work.

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 Gilda Yadollahy Sheikh

Exam Module 2

B.
The normative principles of social sustainability are a set of principles that support goals for a
sustainable city by making a community livable and healthy for long time. Some of the principles are:

- Gain long term social and economic security

- Foster people to participation and decision making
- Support self-determination and human rights
- Establishment of justice
- High quality of life
- Promote autonomy

In better classification:

1. Equity
2. Diversity
3. Quality of life
4. Interconnectedness
5. Democracy and governance
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Gilda Yadollahy Sheikh

Exam Module 2

C:

According to Brundtland definition of sustainable development “development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Sustainable communities meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, their children and other
users, contribute to a high quality of life and provide the opportunity and choice ,they achieve this in
ways effective use of natural resources, enhance the environment ,promote social cohesion and
inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity.(John Egan,2004)

Social sustainability goals includes improving equity and ensure the basic needs, enhancing human
capital and strengthening social values and also diversity and provide the good quality of life so it
connect and identify the exact meaning of a sustainable city development .

As in answer A social sustainability is improvement in human well-being and social welfare that is a one
of the important part of the definition of sustainable development too, so one of the dimension of quality
of human life is to live in house and housing need as a safe shelter is the first need of the human. Regard
to make sense of belonging and for the people to have opportunity to contribute to the life of community
the role of housing in people’s quality of life is very important, so social housing is as a fundamental
component of sustainable community and housing is the main citizen right.

I think the strengthen of my definition is related to the main point to human needs and link between
sustainable city development and the social sustainability and the weakness is related to time bounds,
that I didn’t focus on time.
 3

Gilda Yadollahy Sheikh

4 Exam Module 2

D:
Social Sustainability in Klostergarden1 Social Sustainability in kirsberg
Group 2 Group 6

Indicators Normative principles Indicators Normative principles

Schools Quality of life Education Quality of life

Governance Equity

Diversity Democracy

Equity

Mental hospital Quality of life Different companies Democracy

Governance

Football stadium Interconnectedness The age of residents Diversity

Quality of life Governance
Greenery area Quality of life Mix ethnicity .Diversity

Road facility .Governance Crime rate(low) Governance

Interconnectedness Quality of life
Equity
Handicaps Interconnectedness park Governance
Quality of life Quality of life
Interconnectedness
Diversity
Park Governance Several meeting point Democracy
Quality of life Diversity
Interconnectedness Equity
Diversity
Security Governance Youth Centre Quality of life
Quality of life
Tenure Governance participation Democracy
Quality of life Quality of life
Diversity Equity
Governance
 Gilda Yadollahy Sheikh
Exam Module 2

I choose the project of group 6 because their indicators are different to ours, so I can have more indicators to
analysis their social principles.

I think strengthen of my list is focus on the main indicators but I have no idea about the weakness, because I
tried to collect every mentioned indicators.

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 Gilda Yadollahy Sheikh

Exam Module 2

References:

1. Social sustainability in urban areas-communities, connectivity and the urban fabric-edited by

TONY MANZI, KAREN LUCAS, TONY LLOYD JONES AND JUDITH ALLEN-first edition
2010 by Earthscan.
2. Sustainability indicators, the measuring immeasurable? Simon Bell and Stephen Morse -second
edition-2008
3. Social sustainability. An exploratory analysis of its definition, assessment methods, metrics and
tools, Andrea Colantonio-july 2007
4. Skills for Sustainable Communities, the Egan Review,2004,p.7
5. Housing and sustainable communities indicators project,stage1 report model of social
sustainability, Leanne Barron and Erin Gauntlett,WACOSS,April 2002
6. TP project of group 6, sustainability in Kirsberg
7. TP project of group 2, sustainability in Klostergarden