Sustainability assessment in the authorisation process of urban transformation: the meta-design of a GeoBIM platform

Abstract

The assessment criteria and indicators used in the authorisation processes of building or urban projects can play a key role in achieving the goals introduced by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, on the one hand, the evaluation of project proposals and the granting of building permits still rely to a large extent on the subjective judgement of public technicians, severely limiting the incentive for the development of virtuous practices and innovative procedures; on the other hand, the measurement of the SDGs on a local basis presents strong operational gaps and criticalities, struggling to clearly orientate urban transformation processes. In the paper, these problematic issues represent the starting point to discuss the possibilities that the development of a GeoBIM platform could open to spatialise, measure and automate authorisation processes by integrating local regulations and sustainability indicators of global significance. The methodological and technical implications of the proposal are explored both through a reconstruction of the disciplinary literature on the subject and through the detailed description of some recent experimental tools. In particular, by questioning how to operationalize the integration of local assessment methods and global indicators through a GeoBIM platform, the paper raises broader questions on the relationship between measurement, policies and planning practices. In particular, the revision of priority criteria according to the 2030 Agenda goals is read in the text as a useful opportunity to rethink a number of administrative tools and practices. Indeed, the development of a GeoBIM platform to support building permit applications could not only make the assessment of compliance with local regulations more efficient and automated but also allow for the measurement of project impacts against indicators aimed at the local declination of the sustainability goals defined by the 2030 Agenda.