This paper assesses the potential of multiplicity in the housing environment for achieving social
sustainability compared to singularity. For this purpose, a neighborhood assessment framework was developed to
cover three values of social sustainability, namely, stability, continuity, and fairness, as well as several factors
related to each value. Two cases were chosen from the neighborhoods in the city of Nablus: Type (1) as an example
of multiplicity, and type (2) as an example of singularity. The research data were collected through an architectural
survey on the features of both types of neighborhoods, and analyzed in details. On this basis, the two types of
neighborhoods were compared based on the said values. The results show that the values of sustainability increase
in type (2) at the level of the single building, while growing in type (1) at the level of the residential neighborhood.
Multiplicity is a high-potential approach for achieving social sustainability, if the design of the residential buildings
caters to people’s needs and wants. In addition, several suggestions were made for improving the neighborhood
design in Palestine based on multiplicity.

Title

Journal of Urban Development and Management

Publisher

ACADlore

Publisher Country

Croatia

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

None

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

1

Year

2022

Pages

39-49