An Analysis of Relationship between the Environment and User’s Behavior on Unimproved Streets: A Case Study of Da Nang City, Vietnam

The Role of Collective Spaces in Achieving Social Sustainability: A Comparative Approach to Enhance Urban Design

Achieving social sustainability is an important aim towards achieving sustainable development goals for 2030. This paper aims to evaluate the compatibility of collective spaces with the contemporary social needs in the residential areas in Palestine. It is hypothesized that collective spaces such as cul-de-sacs have the potential for a contribution towards social sustainability. A field research for urban design architectural components for cul-de-sacs and grid streets in Nablus city was conducted based on social sustainability values. Then, a questionnaire was developed to measure people’s satisfaction with living in such collective spaces in terms of social sustainability values. The results show that the satisfaction in collective spaces rises in the cul-de-sac housing compared to grid street houses. Based on these results, a cul-de-sac is a high-potential approach for enhancing social interaction in collective spaces because it provides the four values of social sustainability: privacy, security, equality, and environmental quality. Such qualities are very basic and essential human needs to be considered in housing design. Finally, proposed guidelines for designing contemporary collective spaces based on learning from traditional cul-de-sacs were introduced to enhance future social sustainability.

Creative Street Regeneration in the Context of Socio-Spatial Sustainability: A Case Study of a Traditional City Centre in Podgorica, Montenegro

The physical structure of Podgorica was predominantly developed with a traditional planning concept, whereby public open spaces of the city are as important as the city’s architectural objects. The focus of this paper is the perception of a traditional street in the context of sustainable urban regeneration. The aim of this study is to submit a proposal, through the Urban Design course at the Faculty of Architecture in Podgorica, for the physical regeneration of twelve traditional streets (eight street directions) that define the central core of Podgorica, known as Mirkova Varoš. These streets are the sites of social processes, interpreters of cultural and identity values of the society, and primary keepers of collective memory. It was detected that the attractiveness of the case study streets is weakening due to inadequate social and professional engagement in the processes of preservation and regeneration over time and also due to new users’ needs. Global requirements reflect the weakened role of public open spaces as places of social interaction, in favour of primarily closed shopping centres that are the new urban artefacts of the 21st century city. The first phase of this study is related to the theoretical interpretation of regeneration and the role of public space in the context of socio-spatial sustainability. The second phase of the study is directed toward estimating the perception of the current state of the street area in Mirova Varoš, as seen by the case study area users and architecture students, using (1) visual, (2) tactile, and (3) auditory criteria. The obtained results serve as a platform for concrete urban design proposals for sustainable street regeneration that will reflect a stronger socio-spatial interaction between (1) user–place, (2) the place–city system, and (3) local processes–global flows.

A Comparative Study of User Behaviors on Unimproved and Improved Street Spaces in Da Nang, Vietnam

The shortage of open spaces in developing countries in Asia such as Vietnam has been a thorny question for urbanists. Due to a poor history of public spaces, people tend to use street spaces as open spaces and other functions that bring chaos and danger onto the streets. Although developed countries in the West have overcome the dangers of life on street spaces to some extent, Vietnam, with its low quality of life, retains its inherent street bustle. Street improvements have been carried out to enhance the quality of urban life. This research aims at comparing improved and unimproved street spaces in various aspects, including user behavior and the environment-behavior relationship within street spaces and their surroundings. The findings contribute to the future improvement of street spaces in Vietnam and other developing countries based on theories of Environment-Behavior Studies. Through this research, the street renovation and development idea can be processed in a distinctive manner that appreciates the cultural and social context instead of being derived from the arbitrary or intuitive ideas of designers. By using various observation methods such as centered behavioral mapping (PcBM) and visual encounter surveys (VES), and statistical analysis such as principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA), the findings show that a total of eight physical attributes need consideration during street renovations or development processes. Improved and unimproved street spaces share two attributes and differ in six attributes. Additionally, three environment-behavior patterns support the implications detailed in this paper. Finally, a suggestion for street space development and management is made to support related authorities and urbanists in future projects; it is hope that this research will contribute to creating more livable and sustainable street environments.