Narrow Results

The technologies for building environmentally sound homes are well known and have been demonstrated in numerous projects, but are yet to be adopted as standard in the UK. Local authority development plans now include "sustainability" within their principles, but this is applied mainly in the social context. One barrier to achieving sustainable new housing is the lack of a framework to combine the objectives and policies of the urban environment, environmental impacts, resource use, and the design and construction of the houses themselves. This paper describes a framework designed for use by decision-makers (i.e. housing developers and planning officers) to help them address one part of "sustainability", namely eco-efficiency. The theoretical framework is then applied to a case study. Both the development process and the application of the framework reveal interesting points to be considered in the progress towards sustainable housing.

Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, and resilient implies addressing numerous interdependent — often conflicting — sustainability demands. A paradoxical approach to these demands suggests finding synergies among these conflicts in order to achieve successful sustainable outcomes. Drawing on participatory action research (PAR), we highlight specific synergies and possible unintended consequences of efforts associated with meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, “Sustainable Cities and Communities.” The context of this research is energy interventions by social housing associations in the Netherlands. This context highlights the overlap and interaction of complex challenges, such as increasing poverty, refugee shelters, and aging population. We identify and explain four sustainability paradoxes: planning, involvement, impact, and performance. The understanding of these paradoxes can inform organizations and urban planners’ strategic choices for environmental and social interventions. With this chapter, we join the debate on the unsustainability of sustainability efforts in urban planning, suggesting that the recognition of these paradoxes can help to mitigate the risk of unintended consequences.