Well understood? A literature study defining and operationalising community social sustainability

Abstract

The former neglect of social sustainability as an ideal for urban development has been exchanged with a newfound interest globally, nationally and locally. However, there is little systematic knowledge to support relevant priorities in urban governance. Motivated by this knowledge gap, this paper reviews new knowledge from a literature study seeking to identify context-situated definitions and operationalisations of community social sustainability. Two distinct research waves are identified: a first wave of categorisation defining conceptual ground structures of community social sustainability; a second wave of operationalisation highlighting how these ground structures contain competing concerns and dilemmas. This paper nuances and further distinguishes social sustainability at the community level by combining insights from these two contributions to research. Community social sustainability appears as a continually emergent and contested phenomenon. How to address and reconcile competing concerns baked into social sustainability as a concept and a policy still is a burning issue for research and practice.