Social Sustainability and Mixed Landuse, Case Study of Neighborhoods in Nagpur, India

Social sustainability focuses on the type of development that promotes social interaction and inclusion. It gives emphasis to inclusive community, social cohesions, quality of life, social equity and diversity. Segregated landuse has single land use and creates social impacts like social inequalities, exclusion, increased crime rate and physical and psychological problems. Mixed landuse development has multiple compatible land uses like residential, commercial, leisure, etc. within a closed proximity. These diverse uses tend to encourages walking thus enhancing visual and verbal interaction. This paper studies the significance of understanding the notion of mixed land use to achieve social sustainability. Various social parameters like accessibility, diversity, vitality, community cohesion, natural surveillance, safety, quality of life, sense of belonging and (anti)social behaviour has been studied in the context of mixed and segregated landuse areas. Supporting the literature review the study is further extended in six neighbourhoods with varying mix of residential, mix, commercial and other (open area/garden/institutional) land use for the city Nagpur, India. Accessibility, availability and quality of the amenities in the closed proximity and the age of the neighbourhood are the major decisive parameter that affects the social sustainability.