Towards an integrated approach to address social adaptation in sustainability neighbourhoods: The potential of governance and community indicators in BREEAM communities.

Naji, Sally 2019. Towards an integrated approach to address social adaptation in sustainability neighbourhoods: The potential of governance and community indicators in BREEAM communities. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

With the need to achieve sustainability and adaptation to climate change for communities around the world, the adoption of assessment tools in the development process has become a significant issue. Fuelled by this need, Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment tools (NSAs) are increasingly being applied in various developments and communities. BREEAM Communities (BC) is acknowledged to be one of the most well-known and successful sustainability assessment tools at the neighbourhood scale around the world. The aim of this research is to contribute to the current literature in sustainability and adaptation through identifying and evaluating the potentials of BC as a selected NSA case study to promote and support adaptation to climate change in the social context in theory and practice. The study was conducted in four key phases. Firstly, a literature review highlighted issues related to the need for establishment of adaptation characteristics in the social context as well as the identification of relevant theoretical approaches required to promote them: namely, Adaptive Governance, Resilient Communities and Intermediaries. Secondly, the selection of the two key relevant BREEAM Communities categories and their associated indicators as well as a relevant practical case study for the investigation was undertaken. Media City, Salford, UK, is demonstrated in this thesis to be an important exemplar case study that constitutes important strategies to address community sustainability. Thirdly, analysis of the relationship between the three identified theoretical approaches using their associated characteristics against the content of the BC tool’s selected indicators as well as actors’ perceptions of its capacity to promote adaptation was undertaken. Fourthly, the identification of areas that require enhancement in terms of both indicators and characteristics was undertaken and suggestions enhancement proposed, informed by stakeholder interviews. According to the results, BC is considered an important tool that holds significant potential to address the challenges of adaptation to Climate Change for communities, through its coverage and positive performance in relation to issues at both governance & community levels, such as actors’ consultation & engagement & management; community demographic needs and well-being. However, it was also concluded that an area of enhancement in relation to the role of BC is as a main intermediary tool in order to address the under-evaluated issues of: community awareness, knowledge, communication, management and adaptive behaviour and learning, in order to reflect the overall adaptation process at the neighbourhood scale.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Architecture
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Social adaptation, sustainability, neighbourhoods, governance, community, BREEAM
Funders:	Iraqi Ministry
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 June 2019
Last Modified:	21 Feb 2020 02:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/123609

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