Contribution of Built Environment Design Elements to the Sustainability of Urban Renewal Projects: Model Proposal

Abstract

Urban renewal aims to solve the problems caused by unplanned urbanization and urban aging, and it presents a significant opportunity to create sustainable urban areas in Turkey, where a major urban renewal movement was initiated to renew 8 million homes in the next 20 years. In this study, we identified the possible built environment design elements to be applied in urban renewal projects and evaluated their contributions to the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of urban areas through a questionnaire study conducted with the participation of 323 professionals experienced in urban renewal projects. By implementing factor analysis, the large number of design elements was reduced into a lower number of factors. To identify the importance weights of the factors and the design elements, we conducted an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) attended by 60 people consisting of academicians and practitioners. With this study, a sustainable urban renewal model with its factors, design elements, and specified importance weights was created, which is expected to guide a wide range of urban renewal stakeholders, like local governments, citizens, contractors, architects, engineers, and urban planners, in creating sustainable areas.