Measuring City’s Social Urban Sustainability Criteria Using GIS: Kut City as a Case Study

Sustainability criteria and how to measure them in practice in the city Master Plan are considered the main concern of planners and decision-makers. The paper seeks to study and apply these criteria to a residential area in Wasit Governorate - Iraq. The multiplicity and diversity of criteria adopted for the level of the residential neighbourhood unit produce a sustainable urban environment at the neighbourhood level. The study refers to a different result from the prevailing ideas of the neighbourhoods in society and decision-makers. Hence, the research promotes new concepts of what is supposed to be the neighbourhoods. As well as recommended, the local authorities in Kut city should seek to find appropriate solutions to the apparent deviations in the sustainability criteria of the study area neighbourhoods to improve the environmental reality of that life and achieve satisfaction with the population. The analysis adopted the sustainability indicators reality for the residential neighbourhoods of the study area and the (GIS) software, comparing the validity of the actual situation for each locality with the approved standards and determining the deviation. The results characterized Anwar al-Sadr neighbourhood as the best neighbourhood in response to the criteria of sustainability adopted in the research board.