Beacon

Beacon’s Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework and associated tools provide a framework for people and organisations wanting to improve the sustainability of neighbourhoods that they are planning, retrofitting and managing. 

It integrates the environmental, social, behavioural and economic elements of neighbourhoods, recognising that neighbourhoods are dynamic, and that outcomes are the result of multiple decisions made by a range of stakeholders at different times. Given that achieving sustainability in this context is a dynamic, multiple stakeholder process, the Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework provides a means by which to drive conversations on specific aspects of neighbourhood level sustainability in order to inform practical decision making.

 

Who will be interested in the Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework?

You will find the Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework and Assessment Kit useful if you are a:

• developer
• local authority planner, engineer, policy maker or community developer
• designer
• planner
• neighbourhood manager, for example, with Housing New Zealand Corporation or a housing trust

 

What neighbourhoods can the NSF be applied to?

The Neighbourhoold Sustainability Framework and tools can be applied to both new and existing neighbourhoods.

Planned new neighbourhoods and neighbourhoods about to be built.

These are likely to be larger green- or brown- fields developments that are disassociated from existing neighbourhoods, for example, divided from an existing settlement by a feature such as a reserve, hill,  motorway, industrial or rural sites.

New neighbourhoods do not have an existing population so only the Observational Tool is applied here. There is, however, the opportunity to apply both tools over time as the new neighbourhood becomes populated to create an ongoing assessment of sustainability. This can be particularly valuable in staged master planned developments, as well as to monitor changes as residential populations change (in relation to age and stage of life for example) and as the neighbourhood environment grows and adapts (with the changes in public transport or use of the built and open space environments for example).

 

Neighbourhoods that already exist, or development within existing neighbourhoods.

These areas may include smaller brown- or green-fields developments and management of particular existing neighbourhoods.  Existing neighbourhoods offer the opportunity to undertake a full assessment of both the observed and measurable environment as well as the self-reported behaviours of people who reside in the neighbourhood and, in some cases, also in the surrounding areas.

You should apply both the Observational Tool and the Resident Self Report-Tool in existing neighbourhood situations.  The Resident Self-Report Tool results need to be looked at in combination with the results of the Observational Tool.

 

How does the NSF work?

The Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework assists users to identify and prioritise changes to improve the sustainability of the neighbourhood.

The NSF includes two tools:

1. The Observational Tool  - which assesses the buildings and structures of the neighbourhood through observed and measured data and score.  

     It weights this data into sustainability bands for each section (Low, Medium, High,Very High).  The NSF identifies core pre-requisites fundamental to good neighbourhood outcomes.  These pre-requisite outcomes are listed and the report indicates whether or not they are met.  

2. The Resident Self-Report Tool  - which assesses what the residents think of the neighbourhood

   through a survey process that analyses residents’ self-reported behaviour and perceptions in relationship to the critical domains of the Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework. This data is analysed in relation to data collected through a national survey in 2009, providing results that are relative to urban neighbourhoods across New Zealand. Each report presents an overall neighbourhood sustainability band (low, medium, high) and it states where the assessed neighbourhood lies in relation to national patterns.  

Reports are provided for each tool, clearly indicating where the strengths and weaknesses of neighbourhood-level sustainability are, in a particular place, at a particular time.  This offers users the opportunity to consciously consider how, or whether, to address these issues.

 

Download the Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework and Assessment Kit

The Kit comes in separate parts: introductory information and a guide to choosing the right tool; the Observational Tool; and the Resident Self-Report Tool.

Introductory information

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: The Neighbourhood Sustainability Framework
• Part 3: Guide to Tool Choice

The Observational Tool (new and existing neighbourhoods)

• Part 4: Guidelines to Using the Observational Tool
• Observational Tool calculator

The Resident Self-Report Tool (existing neighbourhoods)

• Part 5: Guidelines to Using the Resident Self-Report Tool
• Part 5a: Resident Self-Report Tool - Telephone Interview Questionnaire
• Part 5b: Resident Self-Report Tool - Self-Complete and Face-To-Face Interview Questionnaire
• Part 5c: Interviewer Ethics and Behaviour
• Part 5d: Safety Protocols
• Resident Self-Report Tool calculator

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