Are good intentions enough?

Title

Are good intentions enough?: Evaluating social sustainability in urban development projects through the capability approach

 Author

Janssen, C. (TU Delft Practice Chair Urban Area Development)
Basta, Claudia (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency; Universiteit Utrecht)

Date

2022

 Abstract

Social sustainability is a multidimensional concept sensitive to the contexts of its application. This study explores how it is interpreted and applied in urban planning practices in which general social sustainability goals are translated into specific urban design interventions. Building upon Sen’s Capability Approach (CA), we analyse the gap between the operationalization of social sustainability goals in Urban Development Projects (UDPs) from the perspective of urban planners, and the following experiences of the residents in the developed urban areas. By applying a capability-based evaluative framework to a UDP in Amsterdam, the study reveals that residents value distinct urban functionings and experience different enabling factors related to urban social sustainability. We conclude that the CA provides an operationalizable framework for assessing how social sustainability goals defined at the early stage of UDPs translate in the actual capabilities of the urban residents for whom those very goals were conceived.

 Subject

Social sustainability
Urban development projects
Capability approach operationalisation
Evaluative framework
Amsterdam

 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:91002474-1ad9-4aa2-8dc3-cb67bbbd5ae1

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2022.2136936

 ISSN

0965-4313

 Source

European Planning Studies, 32 (2024) (2), 368-389

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

journal article

 Rights

© 2022 C. Janssen, Claudia Basta
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