The essence of neighbourhood community centres (NCCs) in European sustainable neighbourhoods

This paper analyses an often underestimated and ignored urban design element: the neighbourhood community centre (NCC). The aim is to define, describe and highlight the multidimensional effects that a neighbourhood community centre (NCC) has on a local urban community, and to examine the possible correlation between the level of the NCC’s development and the neighbourhood’s “social urban sustainability” (social cohesion, local identity, sense of place etc.). The main research effort involves exploring and comparing the implementation and development of NCCs in “exemplary urban systems”—the best and most well-known sustainable neighbourhoods in Europe. The final international comparative analysis of NCCs in European sustainable neighbourhoods offers very specific, valuable propositions that can be transferred to future NCCs, with an adaptation to local urban specifics.