Sustainability Assessment Criteria Research Articles

Integrated approach for sustainability assessment and reporting for civil infrastructures projects: Delivering the UN SDGs

Large civil infrastructure projects, such as airports, highways, railways, townships, and other developments, are critical for contributing to the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainability along with the UN-SDGs. However, it is not enough to simply assess their impacts; organizations and stakeholders involved in creating, operating, and maintaining these projects must also report on them. Recent reports by UNEP indicate that the civil infrastructure sector is slow in adopting these principles of sustainability assessment and reporting. The aim of this study is to develop an integrated approach for assessing the sustainability of civil infrastructure projects and sustainability reporting for organizations and stakeholders while achieving the UN-SDGs. To achieve this aim, the study employs a two-step process. In the first step, a correspondence matrix is derived from the sustainability assessment parameters of various infrastructure rating tools (InRTs), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, and UN-SDGs targets. In the second step, a composite indicator called the Sustainability Alignment Index (SAI) is developed. The SAI comprises two sub-indices, namely the TBL-Sustainability Coverage Index (TSCI) and the TBL-Sustainability Disclosure Quality Index (TSDQI). The correspondence matrix, indices, and sub-indices are then used to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the sustainability disclosures of selected civil infrastructure companies in Asia and Europe. The study's findings question the comprehensiveness of the evaluating criteria used in InRTs. It also reveals the lack of alignment between an infrastructure project's sustainability assessment criteria, GRI standards, and UN-SDGs targets. Moreover, the results emphasize the insufficient coverage of environmental sustainability assessment and reporting parameters in the disclosures made by the companies. The developed correspondence matrix, indices, and sub-indices can be used by organizations for comparing both quantitative and qualitative measures to understand their relative positions. Additionally, it will enable the public, policymakers, and other key stakeholders to compare different dimensions of sustainability more effectively.

Identifying the criteria for community-centred Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of estate regeneration schemes

Identifying the overall environmental, and socioeconomic impacts of different estate regeneration scenarios can contribute to the overall sustainability of such schemes. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is an appropriate tool for assessing holistic sustainability. To achieve resilient societies, the interests of communities should be considered in decision making. This paper proposes a method for incorporating community needs in identifying sustainability metrics for the sustainability assessment of estate regeneration schemes. A literature review in the field of sustainability assessment of buildings is conducted followed by a mixed methods empirical research. Collection of data has been through surveys, an interview, and an evaluation questionnaire. Data has been analysed through statistical and thematic analysis and triangulation of the results. The findings have consistently yielded the limitations of the scope of the current sustainability assessment methodologies, especially for lack of attention to societal impacts of regeneration. The results have justified the need for this research to employ participatory approaches for identifying a relevant set of sustainability indicators and criteria for assessing the lifetime impacts of estate regeneration schemes. Issues related to community involvement in decision making, maintenance and management, community facilities, refurbishment, and disruption have been identified as the stakeholders’ top priorities. Mental Health and Socioeconomic Values have been introduced as new criteria. The findings confirm the need for an in-depth approach towards identifying the regeneration priorities of the communities for the scope of LCSA studies. The identified list of criteria can apply to other studies of this context for an equitable approach for selecting the indicators across different criteria and for communicating the LCSA results with different stakeholders.

A Study of Sustainability Concepts for Developing Green Universities in Thailand

Developing universities to become green and sustainable universities is important. This is in line with the world’s sustainable development guidelines. In developing a university towards being green and sustainable, different sustainability assessment criteria have been used, including the UI GreenMetric, GRI, STARS, AUN, THE’S Impact Ranking, and AISHE. Each criterion is designed in a broad-spectrum manner that is not specific. Therefore, this research aims to develop sustainable and green university assessment indicators that suit the national context in Thailand, both in terms of the size and location of universities. Based on the criteria from the UI GreenMetric, there are six categories, totaling 51 indicators. Thus, this study aims to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of each indicator using a questionnaire distributed by the Sustainable University Network of Thailand to all 36 universities and to organize a meeting with sustainability experts (focus group) in each area. To obtain appropriate indicators and to prioritize each indicator, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted arithmetic mean (WAM) method were used to develop an index of sustainability assessment criteria (GU SI) suitable for the Thai context. The results of this study show that the newly developed GU SI comprises seven aspects, including a total of 27 indicators. These are criteria that can be used to assess the sustainability of small, medium, and large universities. They are not complex, are straightforward to use, and more importantly reflect the Thai context. By applying these new sustainability assessment criteria, it was found that the universities sampled in this study yielded significantly high scores. This study is limited by its application of sustainability assessments to only universities in Thailand. Though there are different contexts across different Thai universities, the proposed indicators can still be used to evaluate the sustainability of universities in Thailand.

Toward a Methodology for Social Sustainability Assessment: a Review of Existing Frameworks and a Proposal for a Catalog of Criteria

Social sustainability and, in particular, its measurement and reporting are gaining importance in society, politics and business but are facing major challenges. This is because there are no standardized and uniform approaches or frameworks. The existing approaches cover social issues, but no systematic presentation has been proposed. Moreover, there is no approach that can be applied in both management accounting and financial reporting. The aim of this paper is to present a catalog of criteria for addressing this issue and thus to close the research gap. For this purpose, frameworks utilizing catalogs of criteria for social sustainability assessment and reporting are analyzed and critically reviewed. One major weakness found is that all frameworks are oriented around only socially protected values in their catalogs. As social sustainability is focused on the impact on stakeholders, these are frequently missed. One solution to this problem is to adopt a 1:1 ratio of socially protected values to stakeholders, which is developed and described in this paper via a catalog of criteria. Furthermore, a systematic presentation of social issues using a four-level structure is proposed. Social indicators are, in turn, assigned to subcategories, to supercategories, and finally to stakeholders. This not only improves transparency and comprehensibility but also simplifies decision-making. A procedure model for the application of the catalog is also suggested. Such a catalog has not been described in previous research.

Development of Sustainability Assessment Criteria in Selection of Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Technology in Developing Countries: A Case of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a significant problem for developing countries due to lack of sufficient infrastructure, poor management capacity, and low level of waste treatment technology. This study proposes three main groups of criteria, i.e., social, economic, and environmental, that can be used as an effective tool to assess the sustainability of MSW treatment technologies, considering Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as a case study. The sustainability assessment criteria consist of a list of indicators which consider potential waste treatment plants. The indicators and technologies then undertake a selection process from identifying assessment goals and key aspects to data collection and consultation of experts. The findings from the previous phase will be used to select the most preferred waste technology through AHP and normalization approaches. As a result, 12 selected indicators are as follows: investment cost, treatment cost, operation and maintenance costs, revenue/benefits, job creation, community consensus, support policy, community health, air pollution, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and land quota. Among three MSW facilities selected, i.e., landfill, compost, and waste-to-energy incineration, waste-to-energy is determined as the best alternative solution for Ho Chi Minh City in a given context of approximate 70% of landfilling being applied. The selection process and indicators found can guide decision-makers and policy on selecting MSW treatment technologies in developing countries. Additionally, Ho Chi Minh City’s governors benefit from finding the most appropriate waste technology. A technology adoption roadmap and its implementation plan should be thought thoroughly to address challenges in MSW management in the city.

Application of Delphi method to identify sustainable university assessment criteria for Vietnam

Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the criteria for evaluating sustainable universities for Vietnam. The Delphi method is used to collect opinions of experts from the field of environment and sustainable development on some proposed criteria. The results of the first round of Delphi were synthesized and analyzed according to KAMET principles. A set of proposed criteria have been identified and selected. The Kendall coefficient, calculated from the Delphi round 2 questionnaire, is 0.52, showing a strong consensus and high level of confidence of experts on the four groups of sustainable university evaluation criteria for Vietnam, including: Research training and participation in extracurricular activities; Operation; Governance and policy; Community involvement and social responsibility. The research results provide the foundation for a set of criteria to evaluate sustainable universities for Vietnam.

Multi-criteria sustainability risk management for post-war residential re-construction: the case of Damascus

The Syrian conflict nine years of destruction have had catastrophic influence on the built environment. Post-war Residential Re-construction Projects (PRRP) have been one of the most challenging and controversial responsibilities. PRRP play vital role in building back to better level of sustainability, mitigating risks and resilience, providing housing for traumatised displaced people while coping with the war consequences. Hitherto, more sustainable PRRP are found to be riskier for construction professionals compared to traditional projects. Sustainability Risk Management (SRM) can be a challenging mission where multiple interrelated criteria exist. This research is set to identify and assess sustainability risks associated with more sustainable PRRP in Damascus and to understand how the Syrian construction professionals perceive these risks. The research study enhances a survey and interviews’ findings to develop a multi-criteria SRM framework that can be perceived as a decision-support tool to assess sustainability risks in Damascus PRRP. The survey revealed that while the sustainability risk categories weightings are 38%, 24%, 39% for economic, environmental and social risks respectively, the overall response categories weightings are 44%, 31%, 25% for economic, environmental and social responses respectively. The top five risks found are: expenses exceed anticipated, absence of sustainable technology, delays in planning for alternative social homes, unclear allocation of responsibilities and lack of qualified professionals. The interviews looked beyond the current prevailing approaches to sustainability risks while assessing the proposed multi-dimensional conceptual framework. The research framework enhances interrelatedness in management principles among: sustainability assessment, RM and multi criteria decision making in the post-war context. These findings are significant as this is the first-hand experience gathered from Damascus PRRP. It symbolises a turning point in Syrian construction; from traditional to sustainable housing, which will positively influence construction companies’ sustainability awareness in reconstruction process.

Selection of the Most Appropriate Sustainable Buildings Assessment Categories and Criteria for Developing Countries: Case of Ethiopia

Sustainable buildings can save 36% of total energy use, 65% of electricity consumption, 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, 30% of raw materials use, 30% of waste output, and 12% of potable water consumption. Several sustainable building assessment tools were used by both developed and developing countries. However, Ethiopia’s buildings were not critically assessed and evaluated from a sustainability point of view because there was no such type of study conducted so far. This paper aims to explore the most significant and widely used tools as well as the basis for other sustainable building assessment tools, such as Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE), Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool), Comprehensive Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme (CEPAS), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB), and Green Mark and Green Star. The methodology employed is the selection of the 10 most commonly and widely utilized sustainable building assessment tools (SBATs) from the 57 SBATs based on desk review and document analysis. The results of the study identified that all 10 SBATs have their own assessment categories and criteria based on many factors, such as climatic conditions and availability of resources, plus methods employing demographic dynamics and legal aspects of the sector for assessing the sustainable/green buildings. It distinguishes the most commonly and repeatedly used assessment categories and criteria and uses a consensus-based approach with experts in the building sectors, a four-quadrant model, and a circular and helical flow model, to develop a new sustainable building assessment tool suitable for Ethiopia.

WATERBODY NEGLIGENCE IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON CITY’S SUSTAINABILITY: GHAGRA CANAL, DINAJPUR AS A CASE

Due to its geographical location, Deltaic Bangladesh is naturally enriched with more than 700 rivers. Like the rivers, their distributaries, and tributaries, large and small canals also distinguish the land whether it’s naturally originated or excavated by the dwellers. Dinajpur City has such canal from city’s origin named “Ghagra,” which flows through the heart of the city. “Ghagra” is a 29 km long canal in which 15 km contributes to Dinajpur Urban area. Though it was excavated to maintain the water disposal network of the city, in later periods, it was also used for bathing, fishing, and boating. The absence of a proper master plan of the city considering the waterfront as a design element, rapid urbanization, and unawareness of people is causing continuous decay of the canals and the whole Dinajpur city in the near future. Unplanned development, canal encroachment, and waste dumping have blocked the flow of the canal and disconnected it from the river, resulting in waterlogging and sometimes flood in Dinajpur city. The research will focus on what are the impacts of neglecting the Ghagra canal in urban development on Dinajpur city sustainability. At first, the research will analyze Ghagra Canal’s morphological transformation and impact, then it will investigate city sustainability assessment criteria, and finally, the research will assess its impacts on the city’s sustainability. The research will be qualitative research guided by theoretical, mapping, and photographic analysis. This paper will show how neglecting the water body during urban development can affect a city’s sustainability and as well as similar phenomena.

Regulatory barriers to implementing sustainable buildings in Kosovo

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight the regulatory barriers to achieving sustainable buildings in Kosovo. The present paper focuses on regulatory barriers viewed from the perspective of construction industry experts in achieving sustainable buildings.Design/methodology/approachThe present study uses a qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews as a research instrument. The present study interviews around 20 experts in construction and property management, property development, spatial planning and energy management.FindingsThe study finds that Kosovo building laws and regulations provide for the materials assessment criteria, but the materials assessment criteria are only for mechanic strength. The study further finds that the sustainability concept is not included and incorporated in Kosovo's urban planning laws and regulations. The study also finds that despite specific clauses mentioning energy performance certificates in the Law on Energy Performance of Buildings in Kosovo, energy performance certificates appears to be not enforced and the nature of the barrier is more organizational rather than regulatory. Finally, the study finds that Kosovo laws are silent as far as green labeling of building materials is concerned.Practical implicationsThe implication of the present finding is that policymakers in Kosovo not only should include clear sustainable materials assessment criteria in the law, but also enforce those criteria through testing and inspection mechanisms included in the law and implemented in practice through funding and organizational support. Nonetheless, policymakers in Kosovo should contemplate amending the urban planning laws in Kosovo and include both the term of sustainability at the planning level and conformity guidelines for sustainable design that can be done at the administrative directive level. Further, the clauses in the law do not suffice if the clauses are not accompanied by specific systemic and organizational support in the issuance of energy performance certificates. Policymakers in Kosovo should be proactive in designing clauses that specify green labeling standards for materials; however, these labeling standards should not adversely affect the cost of construction and reduce the demand for real estate.Originality/valueThe study is the first qualitative study about the perception of construction professionals in Kosovo, regarding the regulatory barriers of sustainable buildings in Kosovo.

Investment Licensing and Environmental Sustainability in the Perspective of Law Number 11 The Year 2020 Concerning Job Creation

This article examines the impact of regulatory changes on investment activities and environmental sustainability in Indonesia, particularly based on the Law No. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation, which utilizes the omnibus law method. This law represents a significant overhaul of the investment licensing framework and introduces substantial amendments to environmental regulations, notably revising, omitting, and repealing several provisions of Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (PPLH). The primary objectives of this research are to analyze the new investment licensing arrangements under Law No. 11 of 2020 and to assess the implications for environmental sustainability following its enactment. Employing a normative legal research methodology, this research utilizes legal, historical, and conceptual approaches to address its aims. Findings suggest that the regulatory reforms introduced by Law No. 11 of 2020 could substantially influence investment patterns within the country. Investors generally seek regulations that are clear, consistent, and non-conflicting; however, the reduction in community involvement in the Environmental Impact Assessment (AMDAL) process, as stipulated by the amendment to Article 26 of Law No. 32 of 2009 by the Job Creation Act, raises concerns about the effectiveness of environmental governance. Despite these changes, the sustainability assessment criteria in Law No. 11 of 2020 and its derivatives ostensibly remain aligned with existing environmental prevention instruments, covering planning, utilization, control, maintenance, supervision, and law enforcement. Nevertheless, the diminished role of directly affected communities in the AMDAL process is a significant alteration that could affect the quality and acceptability of environmental assessments and subsequent activities.

An innovative sustainability-oriented multi-criteria decision making framework for prioritization of industrial systems with interdependent factors: Method and a case study of electricity generation

With the development of technology and manufacturing, the conflicts between environment protection, economic interest and social benefit have been awared and paid more attention to in recent years. The sustainability performance has been considered by increasing number of decision makers. In the real-life practice, it will strongly affect the prioritization results if the criteria considered in the sustainability assessment are interdependent. Therefore, a non-orthogonal coordinate system based multi-criteria decision making method which can incorporate the interactions and interdependences among the criteria for sustainability assessment is proposed in this study. An illustrative case about electricity production was used to illustrate the developed sustainability prioritization model. The results obtained by the proposed method are compared with that based on the traditional method, and sensitivity analysis is also carried out. The results reveal that it is prerequisite to incorporate the interactions and interdependences between sustainability-oriented decision-maker, and the developed non-orthogonal coordinates based sustainability assessment framework is feasible for the prioritization of industrial systems with the considerations of the interactions and interdependences among the evaluation criteria.

Selection of the Most Appropriate Sustainable Buildings Assessment Categories and Criteria for Developing Countries: Case of Ethiopia

Sustainable/green buildings can save for 36% of total energy use, 65% of electricity consumption, and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, 30% of raw materials use, 30% of waste output, and 12% of potable water consumption. Several sustainable/green building assessment tools were existed and used by both developed and developing countries. However; Ethiopia's buildings were not critically assessed and evaluated from sustainability points of view because there was no such type of studies conducted so far. This paper aims to explore the most significant and widely used as well as the basis for other sustainable/green building assessment tools such as Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE), Sustainable Building Tool (SBTool), Comprehensive Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme (CEPAS), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB), Green Mark and Green Star. The methodology employed for this paper is the selection of the 10 most commonly and widely utilized SBATs from the 57 SBATs based on desk review and document analysis. The results of the study identified that all these 10 SBATs have their own assessment categories and criteria based on many factors like climatic conditions, availability of resources plus methods employed demographic dynamics, and legal aspects of the sector for assessing the sustainable/green buildings. It distinguishes the most commonly and repeatedly used assessment categories and criteria and uses a consensus-based approach with experts in the building sectors, a four-quadrant model, and a Circular and Helical flow model, to develop a new sustainable building assessment tool (SBAT) suitable for Ethiopia.

Sustainable assessment criteria for airport runway material selection: a fuzzy analytical hierarchy approach

PurposeAirport construction is extremely different than the construction of any other transport infrastructure. It is a vital area affecting both the environment and the economy. Therefore, sustainable selection of building materials represents a very important step. The main objective of this paper was to develop a set of sustainable assessment criteria (SAC) to assist design team members in the selection between two different material alternatives when constructing a new runway in Kuwait international airport. The proposed materials were asphalt or concrete.Design/methodology/approachA set of 24 sub-criteria were developed, those were emerged from three main criteria: technical, environmental and socio-economic. Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) was employed to assign weights and to measure the relative importance of these criteria for the material alternatives selection. The prioritizing process for criteria was based on a survey of 100 responses.FindingsIt had been concluded from the use of FAHP that asphalt material was a better alternative in maintainability, ease of construction, health and safety, initial cost and energy saving. Concrete was better in fire resistance, durability, decay resistance, energy saving and thermal insulation, maintenance cost, aesthetics, minimizing pollution, impact on air quality, low toxicity, environmentally disposal sound system, amount of likely wastage and raw material extraction method.Originality/valueDevelop a set of SAC to assist design team members in deciding between two material alternatives to construct a runway.

Investigations on the Sustainable Resource Use of Swiss Timber

In Switzerland, the advantages of timber buildings for the climate are broadly discussed. In the following paper, a comparative sustainability assessment of four building alternatives is presented. Especially the contribution of implementing Swiss timber versus the implementation of imported timber is highlighted. Additionally, the timber-hybrid building structures are compared to a pure reinforced concrete structure. The timber-hybrid structure, with Swiss timber, has clear ecological advantages with only half the greenhouse gas emissions and half the non-renewable energy consumption compared to the reinforced concrete alternative. Comparing the Swiss timber alternative to the imported timber alternative, there are clear ecological advantages, as well. In terms of economic and social sustainability assessment criteria, the reinforced concrete alternative has the lowest production costs and the lowest labor intensity (measured in terms of full-time equivalents). Additionally, the paper includes an analysis of biogenic CO2 emissions and CO2 storage within the timber building alternatives. Finally, an up-scaling to the national level is attempted, showcasing the ecological and economic advantages of promoting the use of locally produced timber.

Sustainability evaluation for phosphorus mines using a hybrid multi-criteria decision making method

Considering the mounting conflict of economic growth and environmental destruction, promoting sustainable development has become inevitable in many industries, especially for mines. This study focuses on developing suitable approaches to assess the sustainability for phosphorus mines. First, a comprehensive sustainability assessment criteria scheme is designed. For quantitative criteria, real numbers are utilized to signify objective values. For qualitative criteria, triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs) are used to represent subjective fuzzy cognition of decision makers. Meanwhile, a variable-weight model is built to calculate sub-criteria weights. Thereafter, the traditional multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) approach is modified with hybrid assessment data (i.e., real numbers and TFNs) to obtain the final evaluation results. Last, an example of evaluating the sustainability for four phosphorus mines in China is studied to justify the feasibility of the hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method. Moreover, the advantages of our approach are revealed by the sensitivity and comparative analyses. The results show that our approach is dependable to deal with such hybrid MCDM problems and can provide effective guidance for sustainable development management.

Multi-Criteria Stochastic Selection of Electric Vehicles for the Sustainable Development of Local Government and State Administration Units in Poland

Increasing the popularity of electric vehicles is one way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making the economy more sustainable. In Poland, the use of electric vehicles is to be increased by the adoption of the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels. This Act obliges local government units and state administration to expand the electric vehicle fleet. The expansion of the fleet should be carried out on a planned basis, based on rational decisions supported by economic analyses. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide a recommendation of an electric vehicle that meets the needs of local and state administration to the greatest extent possible. The aim has been achieved using the multi-criteria decision analysis method called PROSA-C (PROMETHEE for Sustainability Assessment—Criteria) combined with the Monte Carlo method. The PROSA-C method allows promoting more sustainable vehicles with high technical, economic, environmental and social parameters. The Monte Carlo method, on the other hand, is a stochastic simulation tool that allows for taking into account the uncertainty of parameters describing vehicles. As a result of the research, the most and least attractive vehicles were identified from the perspective of the needs of local government units and state administration. Moreover, the conducted research allowed confirming the effectiveness and usefulness of the research methodology proposed in the article and the procedural approach combining the PROSA-C and Monte Carlo methods.

Dealing with the eco-design paradox in research and development projects: The concept of sustainability assessment levels

Although plenty of research has been carried out to develop a multitude of sustainability assessment methods, few guidelines and criteria have been established to help practitioners and researchers find the most appropriate method for a specific case. Studies have shown the importance of integrating sustainability assessments when conducting research and development activities, but have not provided direct links to available sustainability assessment methods. To address the so-called “eco-design paradox”, this paper describes a systematic classification system for the available sustainability assessment methods. To support the early integration of sustainability assessments in research and development, we inductively derived the concept of sustainability assessment levels from the well-known concept of technology readiness level. In total, 33 sustainability assessment methods were considered. We performed an expert-based correspondence analysis based on the availability of information to perform these methods and the demand for specific information at respective technology readiness level. Thereafter, a cluster analysis was performed, creating four distinct clusters which were finally interpreted as sustainability assessment levels. The provided concept supports interdisciplinary research projects in that it provides an overview of and guideline for possible sustainability assessment methods that match the respective technology readiness level. This enables researchers to integrate sustainability assessment into respective research and development projects and further modify and develop the theoretically synthetized concept based on empirical case studies.

MULTIPLE CRITERIA SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE HOUSING MARKETS IN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES

In the modern world, sustainable development encourages states to pursue a common goal: to integrate three key areas – social, economic and environmental. The article analyzes the sustainability of housing markets in the Baltic States. The concept of sustainability has been defined and key aspects and criteria for sustainability assessment have been identified. The proposed methodology for assessing the sustainability of housing markets in the Baltic States presented. Applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process method the significance of the criteria was determined, housing market sustainability indexes were calculated using the Simple Additive Weighting method. Based on the results of the multi-criteria evaluation, the most sustainable housing market is in Estonia. The results of the research can be relevant internationally, as the original system of assessment criteria for the monitoring of the sustainability of housing markets has been formulated, the situation in the Baltic housing markets has been thoroughly assessed.

Application of generalized Choquet fuzzy integral method in the sustainability rating of green buildings based on the BSAM scheme

The need to reduce the impact of building projects on the sustainability of the built environment and improve the use of resources necessitated several interventions such as the development of methods to assess building impacts and improve the sustainability performance of buildings. Using the BSAM scheme – a green building rating system developed specifically for the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the generalized Choquet fuzzy integral method was employed to determine the importance weights of the sustainability assessment criteria. Data collected from industry experts form the base inputs for the impact of the various sustainability criteria based on the local variations. Consequently, the building sustainability evaluation index and grading scheme were developed to measure and evaluate the sustainability performance of buildings. The developed sustainability rating model was validated in four real-world case studies to demonstrate its usefulness and robustness in practice. The findings revealed that the conventional approach of aggregation of points used by the existing green rating tools is less effective in dealing with criteria that have interactive characteristics. Also, assessment criteria such as sustainable construction practices, transportation, and energy have a significant impact on the sustainability of buildings. The study provides substantial contributions to the existing body of knowledge about green building assessment systems for built environment stakeholders, both from the theoretical and practical perspectives.