ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the interpretation and implementation of social sustainability principles into the design and development of new neighbourhoods using the case studies of Rieselfeld in Freiburg, Germany, and Polvoranca in Madrid, Spain. It reviews the contemporary meaning and relevance of the neighbourhood as a scale for planning, against the ‘hollowing-out’ process that has occurred through processes of land-use separation and distance intensification. Within the literature the neighbourhood retains its importance as a social construct and an elemental social building block, serving as the setting for home life, socialising, growing up, retirement, and, for an increasing minority, a working life. In relation to social sustainability, local employment can be important for those who might otherwise be excluded from working and it can help to cement and sustain local social networks. As a developing area of research, social sustainability in relation to the built environment perhaps warrants greater consideration of production processes.
