Localizing Social Aspects and Liveability Criteria in Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools

Successful urban regeneration accentuates the major purpose of the built environment in achieving urban renewal, in particular preserving local identity and sense of place, promoting mixed-use communal living, and optimizing resources on a long-term plan. The city of Cairo, Egypt, has witnessed a significant urban growth, with new cities located in the urban fringe. However, it is questionable whether the neighbourhoods located in the new expansions are regenerative and sustainable as claimed. Evaluating new neighbourhoods’ performance helps in improving the built environment as enhancing their liveability and sustainability significantly contributes to better regenerative urban environments. This study tackles the issue of evaluating new Egyptian neighbourhoods’ sustainability. An extensive analysis was carried out for three Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSAT), LEED®ND, BREEAM Communities and CASBEE-UD, to address the most applicable one to the Egyptian context. The research showed that 1) the social dimension was poorly addressed together with 2) the difficulty of applying the tool in the Egyptian context, as it has different cultural and demographic characteristics. The research highlights the importance of addressing neighbourhood liveability in NSATs as well as the need for their adaptation to local context. This represents a solid foundation for future research and creating NSATs adapted to the Egyptian cultural context.