Criteria of integration of sociability and physical environment in sustainable developments (The case study of Malaysia)

Abstract

Can you imagine the future image of the cities without implementation of sustainable development? Nowadays, sustainable development is one of the most important issues that its social and physical aspects are strongly recommended. Formation of social sustainability depends on sustainable social relations, which in the field of urban design, emphasis on the space as a platform for the formation of these relationships is considered. On the other hand, the physical and spatial variables affect the responsiveness of environment, which influenced on the election and the presence of the people in outer urban spaces like streets. What is common idea in urban design is a direct relationship between physical environment and sociability of the streets. At the moment, in the cities, there are large numbers of the streets which aren't well prepared for presence of people despite of having high level of accessibility. Thus, a well-defined relationship should be exists between the accessibility rate and sociability of the streets in which if the accessibility rate excide from maximum desirable amount, a decrease will be observed in the sociability amount. The aim of this study provides criteria about physical design in relation to sociability amount of the urban streets. On this basis, fundamental research questions are: 1. How is the relationship between physical environment and sociability levels in urban streets? 2. How much access to urban streets is suitable with regard to social, socio — physical and spatial aspects? 3. What activities can support accessibility and sociability of the streets? The key problem is loss of urban activities in urban streets. Doing the above, identification of a practical and theoretical framework for measuring the function of urban street networks is the main findings of this study that the proposed framework considers the functions of streets in dynamic and static activities of people. Moreover, suggestion of the appropriate functions for streets according to the accessibility rate and expected sociability of streets is another outcome of this research. The research methodology is based on observation (gate observation, people following, and static activities), interview, and axial analysis in the case study of Malaysia.