Sustainability Index: A Tool to Measure Environmental Performance of an Indian City

Abstract

This paper aims at measuring and assessing the Indian Cities on the environmental performance criteria across a broad range of categories and supporting indicators. A unique tool is devised for the stakeholders to address the common environmental issues faced by a lot of Indian cities and to help them learn from each other. Metropolitan cities have various Environmental issues such as urban sprawl, loss of green and natural spaces, inadequate water supply, wastewater, solid-waste, pollution of soil and air. In order to counter these problems, the cities have been changing by introducing smart sustainable techniques. Because of these changes, there is competition not amongst various nations but also among various cities in terms of investors, tourists, workmen etc. As a result, recent trends focus on rating system. There are a number of benefits directly attached to the sustainability rating tool like to minimize the city’s environmental footprint, accommodate population growth, and safeguard quality of life of urban dwellers today and in future. It also helps investors to make a choice of their location, helps cities by being a guiding spirit to enlist various strengths and weaknesses of the cities and thereby assisting them in improvement by working on their weaknesses and in defining and planning their goals and to strategize aimed at bolstering their occupied position and to develop plan for the future.