Abstract
The sustainable development of our cities and regions has become an integral part of the current debate. To achieve the sustainability goals, however, the development of sustainable technologies and infrastructures as well as decisive municipal action at the local level are essential. The research project VertiKKA (“Vertical Air Conditioning and Wastewater Treatment System”), sponsored by the German Ministry of Education and Research, addresses both technology development and the integration of innovative technologies and infrastructures into urban planning and decision-making processes. As a result, a set of indicators was developed that allows the assessment of urban infrastructures and technologies and their contribution to sustainable development. This article presents the “set of indicators for sustainable urban infrastructures” (ISI). ISI is based on the results of literature and policy review but was further developed and tailored to urban infrastructures and technologies. ISI considers the ecological, economic, and social dimension of sustainability to be of equal importance; in addition, ISI places particular emphasis on looking at the technology development process and on the creation of supportive governance structures for implementation. In order to create a link between research and practice, the applicability of ISI to the VertiKKA technology is critically reflected.
Highlights
The beginnings of sustainability assessment date back to the 1990s, e.g., to the “BellagioPrinciples—Guidelines for Practical Assessment of Progress Toward Sustainable Development” [1] developed by an international group of measurement practitioners and researchers and to the approach of the National Research Council of the USA [2], which aimed at making sustainable development observable and measurable
indicators for sustainable urban infrastructures” (ISI) seeks to provide a comprehensive assessment of the contribution of urban technologies and infrastructure to sustainable development
The set of indicators developed is based on a combination of different approaches and methods, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) [22,23,24,25,26,27,28,57,58]
Summary
The beginnings of sustainability assessment date back to the 1990s, e.g., to the “Bellagio. Waas et al [11] emphasize that despite the diverse political commitments and the continuing popularity of the sustainability debate, actual comprehensive achievement of the goals has so far failed to materialise. They argue that in order to truly achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to make sustainability assessments or sustainability indicators part of decision-making. The focus of ISI is to determine the contribution of innovative urban technologies and infrastructures to sustainable development using a set of sustainability indicators. ISI was developed as a part of the VertiKKA project, it is not tailored to this technology, but allows for the consideration of urban technologies and infrastructures in general
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
