The social dimension of the urban village: A comparison of models for sustainable urban development

The paper explores the social dimension of the urban village debate, by examining recent ideas on the desirable social characteristics of sustainable urban development. Three recent examples of the debate on urban sustainability are analysed: the report of the British government's Urban Task Force, Towards an Urban Renaissance; the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods Initiative, based in Manchester; and the scheme for the Greenwich Millennium Village, in London. Based on a study of their respective publications, a comparison is made of general principles, social objectives, and built-form proposals. These are evaluated in the light of sociological theories of changes in the nature of communities, and three distinct types of community are identified: traditional, modern, and postmodern. The long-term pattern of social and cultural change is found to be markedly at variance with the stated aims of the three examples, and the question of how this might affect the outcome of urban village projects is considered.