Journal of Urban Studies on Space and Place

Abstract Neighborhood-level unsustainability is a pervasive challenge in contemporary cities. Contemporary neighborhoods frequently lack the social, spatial, and institutional conditions necessary to function as resilient communities; where such conditions persist, they are often weakened by inappropriate spatial transformations. Indigenous knowledge in Iran contains conceptual resources for understanding and addressing these processes, but these resources have been partially neglected and require reinterpretation to align with modern urban contexts. This study develops a conceptual framework to clarify sustainability concepts and to define normative criteria and measurable indicators for assessing neighborhood sustainability in Isfahan. First, the study identifies core sustainability dimensions across social, economic, and environmental domains. Next, it operationalizes these dimensions by specifying indicators and metrics designed to move assessment toward a continuous, adaptive process. Employing a qualitative methodology grounded in analytical field ethnography and an interpretive approach, data were collected through participatory observation, non-intrusive photographic and video documentation, unstructured interviews, and field notes; data analysis followed systematic content-analysis procedures. Findings indicate that the extracted indicators exhibit substantial desirability within the Sangtarashha neighborhood center. Based on these results, the study proposes targeted interventions to enhance the neighborhood’s long-term sustainability. The proposed framework aims to be transferable to similar urban contexts and to inform policy and community-led initiatives.
Neighborhood instability constitutes a central and escalating problem in urban environments, yet scholarly and practical frameworks that integrate local knowledge with contemporary sustainability assessment tools remain limited—especially in the Iranian context. This research aims to fill that gap by developing a robust framework that synthesizes theoretical and empirical perspectives on sustainability and produces actionable norms and indicators for neighborhood-level assessment and intervention.
Keywords: Neighborhood sustainability; community formation; indigenous knowledge; Sangtarashha; Isfahan
Extended Abstract:
Background and Aim:
Neighborhood instability constitutes a central and escalating problem in urban environments, yet scholarly and practical frameworks that integrate local knowledge with contemporary sustainability assessment tools remain limited—especially in the Iranian context. This research aims to fill that gap by developing a robust framework that synthesizes theoretical and empirical perspectives on sustainability and produces actionable norms and indicators for neighborhood-level assessment and intervention.
Conceptual Framework:
The research adopts a tripartite conceptualization of sustainability—social, economic, and environmental—each operationalized through specific subdimensions. Social sustainability encompasses social cohesion, civic participation, place attachment, and cultural continuity. Economic sustainability includes local economic vitality, livelihood diversity, informal and formal economic opportunities, and resident economic resilience. Environmental sustainability covers the quality and accessibility of public space, ecological management, service provision, and adaptive infrastructural practices. The framework emphasizes iterative assessment: indicators are selected both for diagnostic clarity and for their capacity to inform ongoing, adaptive planning and community action.
Methodology:
A qualitative, analytical ethnographic approach was employed with an interpretive orientation. Primary data collection methods included:
• Participatory observation to capture everyday social interactions and spatial practices;
• Non-intrusive photographic and video documentation to record physical conditions and land-use patterns;
• Unstructured interviews with residents, local leaders, and stakeholders to elicit emic perspectives; and
• Detailed field notes for contextualization.
• Collected data were subjected to thematic content analysis, employing systematic coding procedures to identify patterns, strengths, vulnerabilities, and potential leverage points for intervention.
Findings:
Analysis revealed that the indicators derived from the framework corresponded strongly with residents’ perceptions and observable conditions in Sangtarashha. In particular, socio-cultural assets—such as localized networks of reciprocity, place-based identities, and informal institutions—emerged as prominent strengths that could be leveraged to support broader sustainability objectives. Economic indicators highlighted both opportunities (small-scale commerce, adaptive livelihoods) and constraints (limited access to formal employment and capital). Environmental indicators showed mixed outcomes: while some public spaces exhibited strong use-value and social importance, infrastructural and ecological deficits limited their full sustainability potential.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
The study concludes that combining indigenous knowledge with a structured, indicator-based framework provides a viable approach for diagnosing neighborhood sustainability and designing context-sensitive interventions. Recommendations include:
• Strengthening local institutions and community networks to harness social capital for collective action;
• Supporting microenterprises and local economic diversification through targeted financial and capacity-building programs;
• Implementing incremental, low-cost environmental interventions to improve public-space quality, water management, and service delivery; and
• Establishing participatory monitoring mechanisms that use the proposed indicators to guide iterative planning.
Implications and Future Research:
This framework contributes a practical tool for urban practitioners and planners seeking to integrate cultural-contextual knowledge into sustainability assessment. Future research should operationalize the indicators quantitatively, validate the framework across diverse neighborhoods, and pilot intervention packages with longitudinal evaluation to measure impacts over time.

Abstract  
Introduction
The spatial development model is of particular importance for guiding and controlling the development of cities in the future and creates intervention agendas of urban management system in the spatial structure of the city. Strategic planning is a systematic approach to deciding and implementing activities related to forming and managing a system and its functions. Urban strategic spatial planning emphasizes selectivity, choice of strategic issues, and identification of the planning environment with an analytical-critical perspective. Needs have been introduced as important motivations of individual and collective behavior, so behaviors are reflections of the needs, and sustainability and continuity of human life depend on their satisfaction. Satisfaction can be defined as the level of actual performance of an organization to respond to the expectations of its clients. The lack of needs and satisfaction' assessment processes in urban planning and management system will lead to shortcomings such as: the absence of complete knowledge about citizens’ requests and needs, the lack of mutual relationship between decision-makers and the community, and the absence of applicable theoretical foundations in urban planning and governance.
Theoretical Framework
In this article, by applying the problem-oriented strategic urban space planning approach, based on needs and satisfaction' assessment processes of residents in the city of Dehsorkh (a small city in transition from a village to a city), the urban spatial planning model has been produced at the strategic level and its distinctive features have been traced and introduced.
Urban strategic spatial planning was employed due to the emphasis on the principle of uncertainty in planning, the probability of the planning process, the need to expand the scope of planning in broader political, social, economic, and environmental fields; emphasis on paying attention to the role of various actors (stakeholders); and the ability to support urban planning models based on dual or multiple integrated basic concepts.
Focusing on the study area's main and strategic problems allows for guiding the issue and promoting the phenomenon's values. Program priorities are considered by identifying and analyzing problems, and indicators to measure and evaluate program status can be identified.
Methodology
The research method used in this study, in order to analyses related to needs and satisfaction assessment, quantitative (by analyzing descriptive statistical and Friedman test) and qualitative (by analyzing texts and documents by focus group of key stakeholders) techniques and methods have been used based on a descriptive analysis and a prescriptive-analytical study, based on an inductive, applied research strategy.
Results and Discussion
The achievement of this research suggest that the importance of intervention based on fundamental concepts such as sustainability, social unity, and public participation, which prevent social disintegration and physical rupture in urban spatial structure and to guide and control the development process of the city in the direction of improving and improving residents' access to services and facilities supporting housing.
Conclusion
Finally, according to the obtained results, need for intervention based on fundamental concepts such as sustainability, social solidarity, and public participation that prevent social and physical disintegration in the spatial structure of the city and guide controlling the development process of the city in the direction of improving and promoting residents' access to services and facilities supporting housing. Improving the level of satisfaction of residents (especially at the neighborhood level) is directly related to providing fair and balanced access to urban facilities and infrastructure.