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The Emergence and Spread of Ecourban Neighbourhoods around the World

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  • Meg Holden

    (Urban Studies Program, Simon Fraser University, 2nd floor, 515 West Hastings Str., Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada)

  • Charling Li

    (Urban Studies Program, Simon Fraser University, 2nd floor, 515 West Hastings Str., Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada)

  • Ana Molina

    (School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University, 3rd floor, 515 West Hastings Str., Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada)

Abstract

In modern times, efforts to construct sustainable alternative neighbourhood scale developments date to isolated voluntary initiatives in 1970s Europe and the United States. Since about 2006, they have increased rapidly in popularity. They now go by many names: ecodistricts, écoquartiers, eco-cities, zero/low-carbon/carbon-positive cities, ecopolises, ecobarrios, One Planet Communities, and solar cities. They have become frames—sometimes the dominant frame—used to orient the construction of new pieces of a city in a growing number of countries. Despite numerous standardization efforts, the field of ecourban neighbourhood planning and practice lacks a consistent cross-cultural understanding of what constitutes meaningful ecourbanism in specific economic, political, ecological, social, and design-based terms. Ecourban neighbourhood projects also respond to strictly local challenges and opportunities and express themselves in fragmented ways in different contexts. This article presents an original typology of ecourbanism as the integration of seven extreme type principles. We developed this typology through an abductive approach, or the back and forth testing of observed practices with arguments advanced in theories of sustainable development, planning and urban studies. While ecourban neighbourhood developments by definition express integrative goals, this typology permits assessment of the extent to which outcomes are being achieved in terms of each specific principle. We define and present a limiting case for each of these extreme type principles. Rather than attempting to render different standards equivalent across national contexts, this typology-based approach to understand the outcomes of ecourban neighbourhood developments promises a means to facilitate orienting these developments toward higher levels of integration within a common set of principled boundaries, as they are developed around the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Meg Holden & Charling Li & Ana Molina, 2015. "The Emergence and Spread of Ecourban Neighbourhoods around the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-20, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:9:p:11418-11437:d:54708
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chen-Yi Sun & Yen-An Chen & Xiuzhi Zhang, 2019. "Key Factors in the Success of Eco-Communities in Taiwan’s Countryside: The Role of Government, Partner, and Community Group," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, February.
    2. Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir & Ayyoob Sharifi & Mohammad Hajian Hossein Abadi & Zahra Moradi, 2023. "From Garden City to 15-Minute City: A Historical Perspective and Critical Assessment," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Joshua Long & Jennifer L Rice, 2019. "From sustainable urbanism to climate urbanism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(5), pages 992-1008, April.
    4. Meg Holden, 2020. "The Quest for an Adequate Test: Justifying the Sustainable City as an Order of Worth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Ali Cheshmehzangi & Andrew Flynn & May Tan-Mullins & Linjun Xie & Wu Deng & Eugenio Mangi & Weixuan Chen, 2021. "From Eco-Urbanism to Eco-Fusion: An Augmented Multi-Scalar Framework in Sustainable Urbanism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Carmela Gargiulo & Antonio Sforza & Claudio Sterle & Floriana Zucaro, 2018. "An Optimization Model Fitting the Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, September.

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