Tim Dixon

Given an increasing majority of the world’s human population live in cities it is not surprising that city governments are not only focusing on climate change and resource depletion issues, but also seeking to engage directly with the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN 2030 Agenda. The emergence of ‘smart and sustainable’ cities is also an important component of this sustainable development ‘praxis’ (alongside SDG 11) and has often linked ‘urban futures’ with ‘urban innovation’ and the transition to a sustainable future. This chapter draws on previous research and recent literature to examine the importance of urban futures thinking and how the approach to ‘localisation’ or implementing and monitoring/assessing SDGs at city scale, has developed. To do this the chapter focuses on examples of city visions and voluntary local reviews of the SDGs from relevant cities in the global North and global South and draws lessons from best practice.

In this editorial we explore how the concept of the city region has evolved and what questions this raises for the role of urban futures, including visioning and foresight. The editorial and special issue highlight the importance of foresight techniques in city-region visioning, how power relations are shaped and transformed by these processes, and how important it is to link city-regional foresight with transitions theory and urban innovation, alongside the climate change and sustainability agendas. This paper also addresses the application of city-region visioning in the Global North/Global South, and what this means for future research.

Today the built environment (or the human-made spaces and related infrastructures in which we live, work and play) is a vitally important element of our urban-oriented world. Increasingly we also see a closer focus on long-term ‘sustainable urban futures’ research, as both academics and national and international interest groups frame their discourses, policy and practice guidance, and current research agendas not only on the best and most effective ways of transitioning to a sustainable future, but also recognising the inherent complexity in existing ‘urban systems’. This perspective paper aims to trace the evolution of such thinking, drawing on both scholarly work and previous national and international high-level publications from relevant research programmes to identify key themes and commonalities of approach. The paper focuses on highlighting the importance of two interconnected research themes within the wider context of built environment research: (i) ‘sustainable urban systems’ (SUS) and (ii) ‘sustainable urban futures’ (SUF). In doing this the paper aims to synthesise the literature, distil emergent research findings from a range of publications to develop an integrated research agenda positioned at the nexus between these themes, and to explain what these and other key related concepts mean, and why they are important to understand. Adopting an international perspective and drawing on previous research from the ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’, the paper concludes by highlighting the emerging lessons and challenges for research practice and suggests areas for future transdisciplinary research in what is termed ‘urban science’.

In an attempt to enhance democratic governance, sustainable development goals (SDG), and Local Agenda 21 (LA21), the notion of public participation exercise (PPE) presents a range of possibilities. The PPE is observed as a method of solving the constraints faced by public parks in Malaysia, which in general suffer from two main challenges, namely (i) the underutilisation issue of public parks and (ii) the weakness of the present top-down development policy. Consequently, the objective of this study is to develop indicators for PPE in designing public parks in Malaysia. The method implemented in this study is an assessment of the construct, variable, and indicator adapted from Lazarsfeld’s scheme by conducting a document review of the Public Consultation Index (PCI), six sustainability assessment tools, namely LEED-ND, BREEAM, IDP, SITES V2, Green Mark-NRB, and GTI, and literature references. The variables and indicators were tabulated into the respective operational definition of the construct table and variables and measurement table. The findings include the identification of two main constructs, including public participation and public parks. Multiple variables were derived from each construct, including attributes of PPE in designing public parks in Malaysia, development stage, method of approach, type of public, and public parks design criteria. Subsequently, this study developed the fundamental basis for the PPE framework in designing public parks in Malaysia, which benefits the local development approach for public parks towards an integrated design framework.

Saudi Arabia is a developing country that is experiencing a rapid growth in its population and level of urbanisation. Higher education (HE) in the country has developed rapidly over the last ten years, and it is still moving through numerous major reforms. Largely, the concept of sustainability has not yet been formally adopted in public institutions in a way that could sufficiently remedy the range of activities that currently impact negatively on the environment. The central aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which planning and action for sustainability is currently being taken on university campuses in Saudi Arabia, and to review the opportunities and challenges for encouraging and enabling further progress to this end. The research that the paper draws on specifically investigated the influence of decision makers’ personal knowledge and perceptions within Facilities and Project Management (FPM) departments at selected Saudi universities, and the constraints faced by FPM decision makers with regard to the promotion of sustainability on campus. This exploration was supported by the development of a theoretical framework that draws on rational choice theory (RCT). The research revealed mixed levels of prevailing knowledge and awareness towards sustainability among FPM decision makers within the case study university campuses. Cost notably came across as a dominant influence on FPM decision makers’ choices and decisions, and it undoubtedly plays an important role in shaping the decision-making process alongside other key organisational factors. A number of barriers facing the incorporation of sustainability emerged with clarity, such as the lack of supportive leadership, the lack of sustainability knowledge and awareness among senior management and an absence of sustainability-related legislation policy or strategic direction in the HEIs concerned.

Green Infrastructure (GI) evaluation is reported to improve the sustainability of neighbourhood masterplans, but there has been little research examining the links between GI evaluation and masterplan decision-making. A study of six English masterplanned sites was carried out, with paired case studies reflecting three types of neighbourhood development (estate regeneration, urban infill, and rural-urban extension) to examine whether the sustainable neighbourhood standard, BREEAM Communities (BC), affected GI evaluation and masterplan decisions. In each of three pairs, one site had adopted BC and one had not. Strategy-as-Practice provided a conceptual framework to analyse 13 evaluative episodes, based on 48 interviews and public documents. The analysis revealed that GI-related recommendations were typically deprioritised at later masterplan stages, despite earlier decisions or the application of BC. Potential ways to enhance the embeddedness of GI evaluative practice include improving practitioners’ understanding of GI and increasing accountability at later masterplan stages, such as through sustainability reporting.

Social sustainability is a growing area of debate in the built environment, particularly in relation to housing. Homebuilders in the United Kingdom have responded to organizational and policy drive...