The Role of Social and Place Identities towards Promoting Sustainability Approaches and Behaviors

Abstract

The concept of sustainability is encouraged to preserve natural resources, social values, cultural heritage, and economic capital, which already exist to make available them for the next generations. Moreover, to enhance the level of sustainability in communities, numerous scholars indicated both individual and community identities play a crucial role. Sustainability is attainable and successful if there are compatibility and balance among cultural diversity, social justice, environmental responsibility, and economic equality as well as be able to attract people and appeared in their values and behaviors. Due to the critical role of social identity for improving the capacity of the people by changing their values and behaviors, it can be argued that social identity plays a vital role to achieve and support the concept of sustainability. Besides, place identity is linked to meanings and perceptions held by the people concerning their environment. Thus, the effect of social and place identities to achieve sustainable city has been identified as one of the urban design issues for contemporary cities. In this regard, the main aim is how social and place identities can contribute to promoting sustainability approaches and behavior in communities. The methodology of this study is an integrative literature review based on existing documents and studies. As a result, the research would convey to understanding the dynamic role of social and place identities for enhancing the level of sustainability in urban communities.