Abstract
The process of urbanization has necessitated the introduction of respective changes into the neighborhood planning process. However, the promotion of innovation and the focus on enhancing the economic and technological performance of communities must also be aligned with the principles of environmentalism and sustainability, while targeting the needs of vulnerable community members. For this reason, the neighborhood planning process needs restructuring, with the emphasis on cooperation and sustainable innovation along with better cohesion and control. Coupled with enhanced dialogue with community members as the means of targeting their needs more effectively an ensuring inclusivity and support, the proposed framework will encourage progress and inclusivity while retaining the focus on sustainable development.
Introduction
Continuous economic development forces cities to change and adjust so that its residents could use the available resources. However, when poorly controlled, urban development fails to be sustainable, therefore, leading to the eventual collapse of the infrastructure and the resulting deterioration of economic, financial, and sociocultural opportunities for citizens (Moroke et al., 2019). Therefore, sustainable urban development must be seen as an objective, especially when planning neighborhoods. In contrast to the downtown areas, which are designed with the economic goals and continuous renewal in mind, residential areas rarely receive the same treatment (Anguelovski et al., 2019). Thus, an innovative approach toward neighborhood planning in residential areas is required to ensure that the existing infrastructure and strategic principles correspond to the goals of sustainable urban development, particularly, the promotion of service and infrastructure accessibility to vulnerable populations and the focus on incremental innovation.
Background
The importance of maintaining neighborhoods sustainable while promoting urban development has become one of the major issues in the present-day urban development context. While being admittedly vital for the economic progress of cities and the enhancement of their participation in the global economy, a range of the available solutions are detrimental to the sustainability within neighborhood sand local communities (Immergluck and Balan, 2018). Apart from misalignment with environmentalism principles, these solutions undermine opportunities for reaching out to vulnerable communities and stifle the evolution of local businesses, reinforcing the status quo perpetuated by massive and nearly monopolistic companies (Ribeiro and Gonçalves, 2019). Therefore, solutions for neighborhood planning and the associated urban development goals for communities must enforce the growth of local businesses and support of vulnerable community members.
Thesis Statement
By enhancing communication and Big Data management with the help of innovative digital solutions, as well as establishing future-oriented decision-making frameworks, one will be able to accelerate urbanization of neighborhoods naturally, while also taking different cultural preferences and needs of vulnerable communities and populations into account and adjusting to emergent trends.
Current Objectives in Neighborhood Planning
Presently, most of the goals set within the context of neighborhood planning are geared toward expansion-oriented goals. Specifically, the redesign of the existing infrastructure to improve the opportunities for supply chain growth, as well as the associated economic goals, is implanted into the body of neighborhood planning, which is an understandable yet flawed approach toward urban development within local neighborhoods (Siegner et al., 2018). In order to implement the Neighborhood Planning Theory, which posits that the density and traffic of neighborhoods must be coordinated to ensure safe and effective us of the infrastructure, one will need to ensure that the infrastructure in question evolves to meet the emergent sociocultural and socioeconomic needs of community members, particularly, those of its vulnerable groups (see Appendix A) (Hendricks et al., 2018). Therefore, sustainable development reinforced by the multicultural approach and the focus on security enhancement must be seen as the priority.
Increasing Sustainability
The introduction of sustainable solutions remains one of the core dilemmas for neighborhood planning authorities to resolve. Namely, while the existing technological solutions allow for the rapid development of cities, they typically result in an ultimate deterioration of the environment (Sanchez Rodriguez et al., 2018). Specifically, new sustainable solutions including the increase in green areas and the improved opportunities for transportation improvement and the presence of alternative energy sources must be examined (Olawumi and Chan, 2018). In the context of neighborhoods, the issues of energy supply, transportation, and waste management need to be addressed from a sustainable perspective so that neighborhoods involved in active urbanization should not contribute to the deterioration of the environment (Sanchez Rodriguez et al., 2018). The proposed changes are expected to occur not only at the infrastructure and architecture levels, but also on the social one, representing a change in people’s perspectives on waste management and energy consumption.
Improving Cohesion Adjusting to Citizens’ Needs
Another important aspect of addressing sustainable neighborhood development and the improvements in the urban planning refers to the opportunity to coordinate the relevant neighborhood planning changes and the needs of community members. Specifically, recognizing the needs of the target population based on their cultural background will allow improving the neighborhood planning process, which may include adding the building of places of worship for people of certain religious backgrounds into the planning process (Meerow et al., 2019). Overall, a detailed assessment of the community, including the cultural, religious, and socioeconomic background details of its members, is needed to manage the issue of sustainable urban neighborhood planning.
Promoting Economic Growth
Additionally, the promotion of economic development is a strong recommendation for the further improvement of the community planning process and the management of its residents’ needs.
Major Obstacles
At the same time, when considering the connection between urban development, namely, the promotion of urbanization, and the community planning process, one should also take notice of the issues in community planning that delay the urbanization pace. Several current concerns in the management of community members’ needs cause a significant problem in advancing the development of urban characteristics within communities, therefore, affecting the extent of global progress significantly.
Lack of Attention to Vulnerable Populations
The failure to recognize the problems faced by diverse community members, namely, representatives of ethic, racial, and other types of minorities, may jeopardizer the urbanization process significantly. Namely, by failing to respond to the issue of social injustice, one will create premises for the increase in unemployment, poverty, crime rates, and, ultimately, the overall viability of a community (Kohon, 2018). Therefore, the issues faced by marginalized community members must be acknowledged and addressed.
Issues with Accessibility for the Disabled
Another concern faced by vulnerable groups is represented by the failure to build the infrastructure that people with disabilities could use. The described problem can eb addressed by enhancing communication with healthcare experts and disabled community members themselves, offering improved solutions for services’ accessibility (Pineda and Corburn, 2020).
Smart Cities: Poorly Thought-out Framework and Infrastructure
Another issue linked to the improvement o the urbanization process as it pertains to the concept of community planning, the development of smart cities needs to be addressed. While typically seen as a net positive for the overall pace of urban development, the creation of smart cities often leads to a plethora of extra problems due to the underdeveloped nature of the concept itself (Kim and Kang, 2018). Therefore, further efforts must be geared toward the improvement of the smart city framework and the manner in which it factors into the grand scheme of the urbanisation concept. Namely, the issue of limited capacity of cities in question and the resulting challenges in their operability must be considered closer (Kim and Kang, 2018). To address the concern in question, one might focus on the improvement in data sharing (Spencer, 2018). The specified task will require financing the enhancement of technological development within cities, which is linked directly to community planning (Hollander et al., 2020). Therefore, the two notions are closely intertwined.
Solutions
Though the obstacles outlined above are quite difficult to overcome, the application of urban planning will allow aligning with the essential concepts of sustainable development as long as the core ethical premises are followed. Namely, meeting the needs of vulnerable community members as the priority of the planning process must be placed at the top of the standards for urban development (Parker and Simpson, 2020). Thus, key neighborhood planning strategies can contribute to meeting the sustainable development principles. Namely, the integration of functional control tools and the alignment with the needs of vulnerable communities, as well as the promotion of local entrepreneurship, will provide the fundament for successful urban planning and the increase in the pace of sustainable urbanization.
Deploying the Voluntary Social Review (VSR)
Being one of the core constituents of proper community planning, the integration of control tools into the management of rapid urbanization is likely to assist in addressing the problems associated with the management of development goals. The Voluntary Social Review (VSR) as a part of the control framework for assessing the performance and well-being of urban communities should become one of the primary methods of assessing the status of urban communities (Osman et al., 2021). Specifically, the tool in question as a part of the urban planning process allows detailing the core aspects of the community progress and the essential impediments to its improvement (Croese et al., 2021). Therefore, in the context the urban development process, the control tools that neighborhood planning provides offer a crucial opportunity to coordinate the changes and, therefore, ensure the sustainability of the proposed and implemented changes.
Technology for City-Level and Regional Connectivity
Additionally, neighborhood planning assists in rapid urbanization due to the opportunity to integrate technology needed for maintaining connectivity between cities and regions. With the consistency in communication, city authorities will be able to make decisions defined by the needs of vulnerable group, as well as local issues that define the success of urban development.
Data Platforms and Granular Data Analysis
Additionally, the focus on community planning as a part of the urbanisation process will contribute to the identification of innovative tools for data collection and its further manipulation. Namely, data platforms for granular analysis as the gateway to a more accurate assessment go the needs of target communities and their members can eb deployed successfully (Engin et al., 2020). Implying that the extent and depth of the analysis can be controlled and varied depending on the scope and goals of the evaluation, the proposed technique will allow zooming in on specific issues pertaining to the community in question while aligning with the general framework (Sobral et al., 2019). As a result, issues such as environmental concerns, problems with SME development, infrastructure inconsistencies, and the associated issues can be tackled more efficiently.
Data Integration on National and Local Levels
As emphasized above, the incorporation of community planning into the framework of urban development allows eliciting essential data concerning the obstacles that different communities face when attempting at enforcing the principles of sustainable development. Additionally, the i8nformation regarding different populations and their needs will surface during the community planning process, informing the changes that need to be introduced to address specific challenges faced by the target audience (Powell et al., 2019). In turn, when integrating the specified information and arranging it, one will obtain a comprehensive picture of the sociocultural landscape of the selected environment, namely, the citywide and statewide levels (Xiao et al., 2018). As a result, the process of urban planning becomes significantly simpler, with key goals identified and the issues faced by different community members outlined. In other words, the process of community planning and improvement informs the choices that the urban development process must prioritize.
Safe Housing: Support for Impoverished Areas
Another essential opportunity that the focus on community planning as a part of the urban development and the promotion of urbanization provides is the opportunity to improve housing safety. Namely, the increased focus on the issues specific to certain communities when developing the urban plan will lead to the assessment of socioeconomic factors and the manner in which their outcomes percolate into other social spheres (McGill, 2020). Specifically, the problem of services accessibility to citizens from impoverished communities will become easily identifiable to be further integrated into the analysis and the development of a corresponding urban planning solution. Consequently, the use of urban planning leads to the understanding of how the current approach to managing community needs can become more resilience-oriented.
Support for Local Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Furthermore, the introduction of the community planning lens into the urban development encourages the support of local entrepreneurship, which also enhances urbanization and introduces additional opportunities for economic growth. Since the latter depends significantly on the extent of economic activity in the target area, it is vital to encourage local residents to participate actively in entrepreneurship and contribute to the economic development of the community (Kline et al., 2019). Specifically, the describe change will create premises for improved infrastructure and the influx of investments into the local economy (Zhang et al., 2020). As a result, the available resources, including monetary ones, can be allocated to improve the quality of services and enhance the support for vulnerable community members.
Investments in Public Transportation (Sustainable Solutions)
Additionally, the focus on community planning is critical to the urbanization and the extent of urban development since it leads to the update of the overall connectivity rate within the state. Specifically, the focus on individual communities and their economic growth will entail improvements in the local infrastructure, which, in turn, will allow for an array of substantial updates in the supply chain management for local entrepreneurship (Kohon, 2018). Consequently, the process of urban development will be launched, with the redesign of the logistics-related routes and the increase in the quality of transportation (Ahsan, 2020) Thus, the emphasis on community planning will lead to a better understanding of how the current transportation system can be updated and what technological frameworks can eb introduced into it to ensure its proper functioning. Specifically, opportunities for green transportation, namely, the inclusion of public transport that leaves a significantly lower impact on the environment, becomes possible (Koh and Rosenberg, 2019). Therefore, community planning with its focus on the transportation issues is likely to contribute to the improvement in sustainable development as a part of the urbanization goal.
Historic Areas: Control and Rehabilitation
Another critical connection that urban development and community planning have relates to the management of historic areas that represent a certain heritage. Specifically, the choice made in the course of community planning in regard to the historic areas and buildings defines the course of urbanization, as well as the extent thereof (Daldanise, 2020). Moreover, the specified choice implies addressing a crucial dilemma that the subject matter represents for the urbanisation issue. Namely, by removing dilapidated and deteriorating historic buildings, community authorities provide greater options for economic development, while also creating a drastic gap in cultural one (Daldanise, 2020). However, by allowing the buildings to stay, one will create a potential hazard to the well-being of citizens due to the high probability of the building collapsing and inuring passers-by (Kiruthiga and Thirumaran, 2019). Moreover, by allowing dilapidated structures to remain a part of the city, one will reduce its value and contribute to the further expansion of the slums (Nutsugbodo et al., 2020). Consequently, the dilemma needs to be addressed, which can be provided by revisiting the current approach toward allocating financial resources and supporting local historic areas (Daldanise, 2020). As a result, an increase in the city cultural; value and the rise in tourism rates are bound to be observed, which will define the further progress of urbanization (Udeaja et al., 2020). For this reason, the emphasis on the support of historic areas as a part of community planning is linked strongly to the sustainable development of a city in the context o its continuous urbanization.
Consistent Monitoring Frameworks
Finally, the focus on the unceasing monitoring of changes and the control of the levels of citizens’ well-being as a part of community planning must be recognized as a factor in enhancing urbanization and the city development.
Conclusion and Recommendations
To ensure that the neighborhood planning process meets the requirements for sustainable urban development, a multifaceted approach geared toward the improvement of the current infrastructure accessibility rates and the management of the needs of vulnerable populations along with the focus on incremental improvement will be needed. Specifically, the proposed approach will allow targeting the issues that affect at0risk groups specifically, therefore, suggesting solutions that will increase the extent of neighborhood safety levels. Consequently, the identified change will endorse the further development of entrepreneurship within the target area, which will align with the principles of urbanization while offering support to local community members. Finally, the introduction of monitoring frameworks will lead to a better control over the innovation process, thus, preventing issues with the integration of the proposed changes in the context of local neighborhoods and communities. Thus, active and efficient change management is expected.
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Appendix A: Community Planning
