ABSTRACT

Rapid urbanisation presents multiple opportunities, but also poses challenges for equitable distribution of gains from socio-economic developments. This systematic review explored the role of social inclusion within the urban sustainability agenda.

Sustainable urban developments were conceptualised as comprising environmental, spatial, social and economic perspectives; and social inclusion as entailing access to core services (healthcare) and resources (food). A search of five databases and grey literature returned 1,015 articles; 26 papers were included following screening using pre-determined criteria. Data was analysed thematically. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations were followed.

Most included studies were from North America and few were from Africa and Asia. More empirical than conceptual studies were found, and more focused on food than healthcare. Social inclusion was generally included within the urban sustainability but was often an autonomous component, rather than mainstreamed, within urban sustainability. Social inclusion was mostly related to multiple elements of sustainability, with the greatest focus on combinations of environmental, social and economic opportunities for under privileged groups. However, less consideration was given to gender, ethnicity and other aspects of intersectionality. Multiple theories contributed to transferability of lessons.

Key policy implications include prioritising the most vulnerable socially excluded populations, ensuring equal representation in urban planning, designing people-centred systems, building partnerships with communities, considering socio-cultural-political-economic contexts, and recognising both intended and unintended effects. More research is needed in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) on the role of social inclusion in achieving sustainable development, using cross-disciplinary approaches.

摘要

快速城市化带来了多重机遇，但也对社会经济发展收益的公平分配提出了挑战。本系统综述探讨了社会包容在城市可持续发展议程中的作用。

可持续城市发展被概念化为包括环境、空间、社会和经济观点；和社会包容，包括获得核心服务（医疗保健）和资源（食品）。对五个数据库和灰色文献的搜索返回了 1,015 篇文章；26 篇论文在使用预先确定的标准进行筛选后被纳入。数据进行了专题分析。遵循了系统评价和元分析的首选报告项目 (PRISMA) 的建议。

大多数纳入的研究来自北美，少数来自非洲和亚洲。发现了更多的实证研究而不是概念研究，并且更关注食品而不是医疗保健。社会包容通常包含在城市可持续性中，但通常是城市可持续性中的一个自主组成部分，而不是主流。社会包容主要与可持续性的多个要素有关，最关注的是弱势群体的环境、社会和经济机会的组合。然而，对性别、种族和其他交叉性方面的考虑较少。多种理论有助于课程的可转移性。

关键的政策影响包括优先考虑最弱势的被社会排斥的人群，确保城市规划中的平等代表，设计以人为本的系统，与社区建立伙伴关系，考虑社会文化政治经济背景，并认识到预期和非预期的影响。低收入和中等收入国家 (LMIC) 需要使用跨学科方法对社会包容在实现可持续发展中的作用进行更多研究。