Evaluating Sustainable Communities, Case of Renovation Project in Navab District, Tehran

This article explores social sustainability in local communities of a new residential district in Tehran. The focus is on concept of „sustainable communities‟ in a recently built residential district part of a large redevelopment project The evaluation process considers the post-construction stage of Navab redevelopment project and includes qualitative analysis of current features of neighbourhoods on basis of three main criteria: accessibility, vitality and security. Qualitative measures used for each criterion are determined based on observations from the area and the archived documents and reports of the renovation project. The analysis reveals that despite providing housing for relatively large number of citizens, the project has led to considerable challenges in local communities. Therefore, current citizens of the district are facing inefficient public spaces such as neighbourhood centers or walking path, low access to public services and very low (or lack of) sense of belonging to their living environment.

Keywords:

Sustainable Communities , Social Sustainability , Vitality , Security , Connectivity