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

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