Inhabitants’ Satisfaction in Neighbourhood Sustainability: Insights from Colombo

Abstract

Despite an increasing number of studies on the evaluation of sustainable neighbourhoods, only a few have paid attention to the identification of the components that influence the degree of inhabitants' satisfaction. A neighbourhood is a built entity that situates the experiences of daily lives of a group of inhabitants in an identifiable geographical space, while neighbourhood sustainability is the process of nurturing its environment to support and meet both economic and social needs of its inhabitants. A sustainable neighbourhood should ensure a desired quality of life and satisfaction to its inhabitants by inter-twining the local,social, environmental, and economic aspects to enable its sustenance as a wholesome place to live. However, most neighbourhoods do not do so. This paper investigates an urban residential neighbourhood in Colombo: the Newham Square, and examines the degree of inhabitants’ satisfaction based on their evaluations. It assesses neighbourhood sustainability under the three main sustainability parameters: environmental, social, and economic facets. Physical and non-physical elements of the neighbourhood form is investigated by using secondary data. Structured interviews were carried out to ascertain inhabitants’ satisfaction while physical observations were made to identify the deterministic elements. Finally, it concludes that the neighbourhood form has a significant role to play in ensuring inhabitants’ satisfaction and therefore neighbourhood sustainability.