Sustainable community development: Integrating social and environmental sustainability for sustainable housing and communities

Abstract

The concepts of sustainable development (SD) and sustainable communities (SCs) are firmly on policy agendas. Conceptual clarity is essential for the selection of high-quality indicators to monitor progress in these areas. However, there are very mixed views about the nature of social sustainability (SS), and SC is rarely defined. Definitions that exist are extremely limited. This paper addresses these deficiencies by presenting a new definition and conceptualisation of SC in which addressing both social and environmental needs is critical. SS is clearly defined as addressing basic human needs, so that the criterion of sufficiency is met. Ensuring ‘sufficiency’ is crucial to ensure the provision of welfare within planetary boundaries, firmly integrating the social and environmental in conceptualising and operationalising SS. Using the new SC framework, the paper illustrates how regeneration programmes targeting housing could simultaneously address many social and environmental problems contributing to more progress on many dimensions of SD and the UN SD goals (UNSDGs).