Ecologically Sustainable Development and the Better Cities Program

Abstract

As part of the appraisal of the Building Better Cities Program, the Commonwealth conducted a multipurpose and retrospective evaluation of the 26 project program, including its contribution to the achievement of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). The program included projects as diverse as urban consolidation, public transport, waste treatment, housing and inner urban redevelopment. This article reports the results of that evaluation. The article defines substantive and decision-making process criteria for ESD evaluation, based largely on the National Strategy for ESD, and applies them to each of the projects. Some of the projects contribute directly to ESD objectives for example to achieve energy use efficiency through encouraging public transport and increasing urban densities or to reduce environmental pollution by better waste management. No project was judged to be negative in an ESD sense although for many of the projects the links between expected project outcomes and ESD are much more tenuous, such as “improving the quality of life”, “improving urban amenity” or enhancing the “sense of community”. All projects made a commitment to improved integration between planning agencies involved in urban management and to involving the community which are important ESD objectives.