The document discusses the importance of considering social dimensions in urban planning and design. It defines key terms like social sustainability, community resilience, and the relationship between the built environment and social outcomes. Case studies show how urban design can enhance social sustainability by encouraging community participation, considering community needs, and facilitating social interaction. The built environment also shapes a community's resilience to climate events by supporting private and public spaces and social networks. The authors recommend socially-aware planning and design processes to guide development that strengthens communities.

1. Photo Credit: Yala Garden City Project/HIA Division, Department of Health, Thailand
DESIGNING
SUSTAINABLE
CITIES: WHAT
ABOUT THE
PEOPLE?
Robin King and Cathy Baldwin

2. WHY WE WROTE THIS BOOK
Pressure from rapid urbanization
Policy, planning, and design
neglects the importance of “social”
dimensions
Highlight the need for work across
disciplines

3. SPEAKERS
Robin King is the Director of Knowledge Capture and
Collaboration at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. In this
role, she promotes collaboration across WRI’s international
network to better integrate urban planning, land use, and
sustainable transportation using her experience working in policy
matters in the Americas and Asia.
Cathy Baldwin is an Applied Social Scientist and Public Health
Consultant specializing in the social and health aspects of urban
development, climate change, and energy. She is an Affiliate
Researcher at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and
University of Oxford, and independent consultant on UK
government international development programs.

4. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
• Framework and findings
• Case Studies
• Policy recommendations
• Discussion

5. RELEVANCE FOR WRI
We don’t pay enough attention to the direct
impact climate change has on people – especially
the most vulnerable. We need to use several
approaches to produce recommendations for
more environmentally, politically, economically,
and socially sustainable communities and cities.
Photo Credit: Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based Urban
Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)

6. BASIC CONCEPTS
Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based Urban Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on
Environment and Sustainability)
COMMUNITY
“…groups or networks of people who share a common sense of
belonging based on shared connections such as geographic proximity,
interests, socio-demographic characteristics, experiences, emotional
links or other common purposes. Communities may be based on face-
to-face interactions or virtual or mental connections that bind them;
they can also emerge informally or be formally organized.”
NEIGHBORHOOD
“A place-based area or district, especially one forming a section
of a town or city, that generates neighbourly or identity-based
feeling and behaviour, often leading to a sense of community…”

7. IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based Urban Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on
Environment and Sustainability); Woodcraft 2012: 35; Magis, 2010: 402
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY &
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
COMMUNITY/SOCIAL
RESILIENCE

8. IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
‘…the viability, health and functioning
of “society” itself as a collective entity,’
or at local level, a ‘community’
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY &
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
COMMUNITY/SOCIAL
RESILIENCE
Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based Urban Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on
Environment and Sustainability); Woodcraft 2012: 35; Magis, 2010: 402

9. IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
‘…the viability, health and functioning
of “society” itself as a collective entity,’
or at local level, a ‘community’
COMMUNITY/SOCIAL
RESILIENCE
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY & THE
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
‘the extent to which a neighborhood
supports individual and collective
wellbeing... with a focus on how the
people who live in and use a space
relate to each other and function as a
community’
Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based Urban Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on
Environment and Sustainability); Woodcraft 2012: 35; Magis, 2010: 402

10. IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
‘…the viability, health and functioning
of “society” itself as a collective entity,’
or at local level, a ‘community’
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY & THE
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
‘the extent to which a neighborhood
supports individual and collective
wellbeing... with a focus on how the
people who live in and use a space
relate to each other and function as a
community’
COMMUNITY/SOCIAL RESILIENCE
‘the existence, development, and
engagement of community resources
by community members to thrive in an
environment characterized by change,
uncertainty, unpredictability, and
surprise’
Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based Urban Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on
Environment and Sustainability); Woodcraft 2012: 35; Magis, 2010: 402

11. OVERLAPPING DIMENSIONS OF FRAMEWORKS
Social Sustainability
(Bramley and Power, 2009)
Social/Community Resilience
(Zautra, Murray and Hall, 2010)
Pride in and attachment to
neighborhood
Sense of community
Social interaction within the
neighborhood
Regular interaction between
neighbours
Stability (versus residential
turnover)
Owning home and residential
stability (long-term residence)
Participation in collective
group/civic activities
Proactive in the community and
get involved in community
affairs

12. SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Socially-aware planning is required to enhance
communities’ social sustainability. Policy tends to
address macro level concerns, but must be linked
to the micro level. Urban form, design features,
and spaces can influence pro-community
behaviors and psychological responses related to
social capital and cohesion.
Photo from: Baldwin and King, 2018: Social Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Community-Based
Urban Development: What About the People? (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)

13. FOUR STAGES OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Define a vision–
practical,
financial and
social – that
enhances
communities’
social resources
and strengths
1
Scheme
Conception
2
Research &
Community
Involvement
3
Design
Decisions &
Implementation
4
Monitoring &
Evaluation
Uncover the local
social and cultural
context and
community
dynamics.
Explore the
needs, resources
and strengths of a
community
Use social and
cultural
information to
make informed
decisions about
characteristics
of buildings or
public spaces,
ensuring social
input in
implementation
Monitor and
assess social
input and
impacts

14. CASE STUDIES SUMMARY
Urban Development Projects
Promoting Social Sustainability
Public open space between housing blocks
and at neighborhood level
Delhi, India
Violence prevention through urban upgrading
Cape Town, South
Africa
Central Railway Station
Cape Town, South
Africa
Ethnically-mixed housing complex
Belfast, Northern
Ireland, UK
Social sustainability of new housing
communities
England, UK
Neighborhood public squares
Portland, Oregon,
USA
Public green spaces Manchester, UK
Planned Bus Xchange
Christchurch, New
Zealand
HIA of parks and gardens Yala, Thailand
Community Resilience (or lack thereof)
and the Built Environment Case Studies
Good social capital before and after flooding
among middle-class residents
Surat, India
Coping after episodes of intense heat, rain,
flooding events, cyclones and storm surges
Khulna, Bangladesh
Floods affecting slum dwellers with poor social
cohesion
Surat, India
Good social capital before and after flooding
slum (kampung) dwellers
Jakarta, Indonesia
Sustaining and re-creating social capital in
transitional housing after Hurricane Katrina
Gulf States, USA
Socially sustainable communities pre-
earthquakes are more resilient communities
post-earthquakes
Christchurch, New
Zealand

15. CASE STUDIES: GENERAL FINDINGS
Pro-community behaviors and psychological responses indicative of communities which are both
socially sustainable and resilient
Connections and affective attachments to the neighborhood and community
(pride in, sense of, or attachment to place/community; sense of belonging)
Social interaction with neighbors and within the neighborhood
Feelings of safety and security, and active monitoring
(versus risk of crime, antisocial behavior)
Residential stability (versus residential turnover)
Participation in collective group/civic activities and affairs
Social cohesion
Social solidarity/community spirit
Happiness and wellbeing
Voice and influence, and civic empowerment
Blue background = in original 1) socially sustainable community & 2) resilient neighborhood community frameworks
Green background = in both the social sustainability and community resilience case studies in Baldwin and King (2018)

16. FINDINGS: SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY CASE STUDIES
Enhanced
social
sustainability
Allowing
communities
to co-design,
implement
and
participate in
managing
projects
Considering
communities’
needs,
resources and
strengths
Conducting
ongoing
monitoring
and
evaluation
Creating off-
shoot
community
and economic
development
opportunities

17. FINDINGS: COMMUNITY RESILIENCE CASE STUDIES
The built
environment shapes
resilience (or lack of)
through …
private spaces and
their connections
public spaces social networks

18. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Urban planning and design can support critical social resources and
strengths that communities require
Pro-community behaviors and psychological responses are just as
important for building the climate resilience of urban communities
Communities need infrastructure and spaces that support pro-
community behaviors and psychological responses
Experts can adopt socially-aware planning processes to guide social
sustainability and community resilience plans at the micro- and macro-
levels

19. THANK YOU!
Online Resources:
• Find the publication online: https://www.routledge.com/Social-Sustainability-
Climate-Resilience-and-Community-Based-Urban-Development/Baldwin-
King/p/book/9781138478015
• Blog summarizing What about the people?: http://thecityfix.com/blog/what-
about-the-people-unlocking-the-key-to-socially-sustainable-and-resilient-
communities-cathy-baldwin-robin-king/
• Interview on socially-aware planning:
https://www.teaandwater.co/insights/cities/human-urban-planning/