Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released design indexes for sustainable neighbourhoods, including self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity. However, they are developed from an urban planning perspective and not researched in relation to: a) the citizen perspective...

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Main Authors: Joseph Llewellyn, Cecilia Katzeff, Daniel Pargman, Fredrik Johansson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:City and Environment Interactions
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590252024000400
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author Joseph Llewellyn
Cecilia Katzeff
Daniel Pargman
Fredrik Johansson
author_facet Joseph Llewellyn
Cecilia Katzeff
Daniel Pargman
Fredrik Johansson
author_sort Joseph Llewellyn
collection DOAJ
description The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released design indexes for sustainable neighbourhoods, including self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity. However, they are developed from an urban planning perspective and not researched in relation to: a) the citizen perspective and b) how citizen interactions can contribute to the environment. Therefore, this research tests a novel set of indexes with an underused method of ethnographic video interviews with 14 citizens of a known sustainable neighbourhood in Stockholm, Sweden. A thematic analysis conducted on 28 h of interview data collected over a 4-week period yielded 5 main themes, from outdoor public spaces. Self-sufficiency findings suggest that citizens 1) perceive small scale self-sufficiency to be challenged by large scale structural efficiency and 2) circular actions with food waste to biogas can develop the self-sufficiency index further. Community plot ratio findings suggest that citizens 3) perceive community spaces to be accessible for all but not used by all. Civic generosity findings suggest citizens 4) perceive an imbalance between self-interests of the individual versus collective interests of the community, while 5) experienced citizens feel personally responsible to pioneer civic generosity interactions. UNEP indexes for designing neighbourhoods can define local sustainability, however, our findings support this, only if they can be acted upon by the citizens who live there.
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spelling doaj-art-0244b3c1905e4a7292fe6fe6406abbd32025-08-20T01:59:00ZengElsevierCity and Environment Interactions2590-25202024-12-012410018010.1016/j.cacint.2024.100180Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoodsJoseph Llewellyn0Cecilia Katzeff1Daniel Pargman2Fredrik Johansson3Corresponding author.; Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Architecture and Built Environment School, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Teknikringen 10b, 114 28 Stockholm, SwedenSustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Architecture and Built Environment School, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Teknikringen 10b, 114 28 Stockholm, SwedenSustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Architecture and Built Environment School, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Teknikringen 10b, 114 28 Stockholm, SwedenSustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Architecture and Built Environment School, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Teknikringen 10b, 114 28 Stockholm, SwedenThe United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released design indexes for sustainable neighbourhoods, including self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity. However, they are developed from an urban planning perspective and not researched in relation to: a) the citizen perspective and b) how citizen interactions can contribute to the environment. Therefore, this research tests a novel set of indexes with an underused method of ethnographic video interviews with 14 citizens of a known sustainable neighbourhood in Stockholm, Sweden. A thematic analysis conducted on 28 h of interview data collected over a 4-week period yielded 5 main themes, from outdoor public spaces. Self-sufficiency findings suggest that citizens 1) perceive small scale self-sufficiency to be challenged by large scale structural efficiency and 2) circular actions with food waste to biogas can develop the self-sufficiency index further. Community plot ratio findings suggest that citizens 3) perceive community spaces to be accessible for all but not used by all. Civic generosity findings suggest citizens 4) perceive an imbalance between self-interests of the individual versus collective interests of the community, while 5) experienced citizens feel personally responsible to pioneer civic generosity interactions. UNEP indexes for designing neighbourhoods can define local sustainability, however, our findings support this, only if they can be acted upon by the citizens who live there.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590252024000400Citizen experiencesEthnographic video interviewsCircular actionsAccessibilityFire souls
spellingShingle Joseph Llewellyn
Cecilia Katzeff
Daniel Pargman
Fredrik Johansson
Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
City and Environment Interactions
Citizen experiences
Ethnographic video interviews
Circular actions
Accessibility
Fire souls
title Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
title_full Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
title_fullStr Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
title_full_unstemmed Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
title_short Citizen perceptions and interactions towards self-sufficiency, community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
title_sort citizen perceptions and interactions towards self sufficiency community plot ratio and civic generosity within sustainable neighbourhoods
topic Citizen experiences
Ethnographic video interviews
Circular actions
Accessibility
Fire souls
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590252024000400
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AT danielpargman citizenperceptionsandinteractionstowardsselfsufficiencycommunityplotratioandcivicgenerositywithinsustainableneighbourhoods
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