Urban Sustainability Indicators Research Articles

Measuring Progress toward Urban Sustainability: Do Global Measures Work for Arctic Cities?

The International Organization for Standardization recently responded to a growing global interest in cities by developing an index for measuring urban sustainability (ISO 37120). We address how well this standard applies to Arctic cities, and potential modifications that might improve its performance. After briefly discussing the goals of sustainability indicators, we examine the extent to which Arctic cities’ remote location, cold and changing climate, and thin, largely resource-based economies may create different sustainability challenges. We then critically examine the content of ISO 37120 and the context in which it was created. We place the index within a broader discussion of urban sustainability indicators and examine the extent to which it really addresses sustainability. We then analyze how well the ISO 37120 accounts for the characteristic features of Arctic cities that produce unique sustainability challenges. Our findings show that only half of ISO 37120′s 128 indicators actually measure future-oriented concerns. We suggest that, while the ISO 37120 may be a useful starting point in quantifying Arctic urban sustainability, the index should only be used as a foundation for a more in-depth analysis. To better represent Arctic cities, the ISO 37120 would need to include indicators that situate cities within their regional contexts, addressing both remoteness and the underlying basis of the Arctic city economy. The index should also measure the role of Indigenous populations, and chart the extent to which cities are working to increase levels of sustainability.

Localising urban sustainability indicators: The CEDEUS indicator set, and lessons from an expert-driven process

The development and application of urban sustainability indicators has gained momentum in recent years, especially since the generation of specific urban indicators for the Agenda 2030. Urban sustainability is a broad concept involving many dimensions, therefore the generation of a short, but comprehensive list of indicators is a significant challenge. In this paper, we present a set of 29 indicators designed to characterise urban sustainability in Chile, which we also expect to be relevant to other cities, particularly in the Global South where issues of poverty and inequality are prevalent. We first outline the process of selecting the indicators through expert consultation. Then we present selected indicators, and the variables used to measure them. Subsequently the set is applied to six Chilean cities that are diverse in terms of population, socio-economic conditions and geography. We show that some indicators highlight negative nationwide trends that are common to the cities, while other indicators reveal notable differences that can be traced back to their local contexts. The CEDEUS indicators provide a complement to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for cities; therefore, a comparison is made with the SDGs. The indicator development process is critically examined and policy recommendations are given.

An Introduction to Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tool (NSAT) Study for China from Comprehensive Analysis of Eight Asian Tools

In comparison to city-level and building-level sustainability research, neighborhood-level sustainable urban development is less studied. One of the ways of achieving sustainability at this level is the use of the Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tool (NSAT), which focuses on the sustainable urban development of districts, communities, and neighborhoods. NSAT is comprised of urban sustainable indicators and associated points ascribed towards achieving specific urban agendas, called headline sustainability indicators (HSIs) and themes. In China, neighborhood-level sustainability agenda has just been recently established in 2017. Hence, there is an immediate need for NSAT development of multiple cities responding to specific regions of different climate zones in China. As an example, this study utilizes the case of Ningbo City, located in east China, for such NSAT development. This paper provides a comprehensive analytical and comparison study of eight Asian NSATs to highlight compatibilities and extract specific indicators for a new NSAT development for China. The results from this comparative and analytical study, developed through a multidimensional approach of sustainable pathway model (SPM) inform a new NSAT development in a new context. This novel contribution is significant in a context where neighborhood sustainability measures are recently developed. This study serves as the starting point for future research of NSATs in China and other countries.

Ciudades costeras e indicadores de sostenibilidad: Una aproximación desde el metabolismo urbano de la calle

Resumen
 Se presenta una aproximación metodológica para la definición de indicadores de sostenibilidad urbana para las ciudades costeras desde los procesos del metabolismo urbano de las calles, reconociendo las calles como sistemas por los que transita gran parte de los flujos materiales urbanos que afectan la conectividad entre las estructuras biológicas, las relaciones socioculturales y los índices de vulnerabilidad. Como caso de estudio se tiene la Avenida Juan Ponce de León, la cual se analiza a partir de tres sistemas de indicadores de sostenibilidad: Banco Mundial por ser considerado como referencia válida internacional, LEED USA por ser el sistema de medición de sostenibilidad utilizado en Puerto Rico y BCN Ecología por su enfoque en el metabolismo urbano como herramienta de análisis. La información se recaba mediante Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG), mediciones en sitio y data oficial. El alcance de la fase de la investigación en este artículo tiene dos propósitos principales: 1. Examinar el grado de cumplimiento de la avenida Juan Ponce de León y el entorno urbano relacionado con los indicadores de referencia y 2. Identificar la pertinencia de estos sistemas para la realidad estudiada, reconociendo que los riesgos naturales que afectan el caribe ameritan indicadores específicos que contribuyan a disminuir las condiciones de riesgo que afectan sus ciudades constantemente. En esta fase de la investigación, aún en proceso, se proponen unos términos de referencia para la definición de indicadores de sostenibilidad urbana específicos para San Juan que se espera puedan servir a otras ciudades costeras.
 Palabras clave:
 urbanismo sustentable; ecología; calidad ambiental; sistemas viales; planificación urbana

КОНЦЕПЦИЯ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ В МЕЖДУНАРОДНОМ ПРАВЕ: ИСТОРИЯ, НОРМАТИВНОЕ ЗАКРЕПЛЕНИЕ И ЗНАЧЕНИЕ ДЛЯ ПРАВОВОГО РЕЖИМА ОХРАНЫ ОБЪЕКТА ВСЕМИРНОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ ОЗЕРА БАЙКАЛ

The article continues the study of the international legal basis of the regime of legal protection of Lake Baikal, supported by the RFBR grant (Project No. 20-011-00618). The origin of the category “sustainable development” is revealed, and the main stages of the formation of perceptions of sustainable development are noted. Particular attention is paid to the basic ideas of the report “Our Common Future”, also known as the Bruntland Commission report. Two components of sustainable development under this instrument are noted: needs (present and future generations) and constraints. The normative integration of the concept of sustainable development into international instruments is analysed: the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Rio Declaration); the Millennium Development Goals; The Future We Want, the outcome document of the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development; and the sustainable development goals of 2015. A separate block of research is the criticism of the concept of sustainable development developed both in Western (D. Carruthers, I. Bluhdorn, L. Tulloch) and in the domestic (M.M. Brinchuk) doctrine of environmental law. Based on the results of the analysis of the concept, it is concluded that the concept should be used primarily for the organic development of settlements located within the Lake Baikal Natural Territory. In the system of sustainable development goals, the issue of settlement development is addressed in Goal No. 11. In addition, the conclusions of the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat 3) have considerable potential. The article reviews Habitat Outcome Document 3 The New Urban Agenda, briefly compares it with the documents of previous UN-Habitat conferences, describes the content of the New Urban Agenda, identifies the basic principles of sustainable human settlement development, and addresses criticisms of the document analysed in the article. In the final part of the article, the authors analyse the documents on the territorial development of settlements located within the boundaries of the Lake Baikal Natural Territory. The conclusion is formulated that the principles of the New Urban Agenda should be incorporated into the development plans of the above-mentioned settlements, in particular, the principles of the development and introduction of indicators of urban sustainability. A number of proposals are made to reflect the principles of sustainable development in such documents.

A Framework for Measuring Urban Sustainability in an Emerging Region: The City of Duhok as a Case Study

The City of Duhok in Iraq, as one of the Kurdistan Region’s (KR) main cities, is concerned about sustainability but lacks the measures to guide urban policies. This study bridges this gap and offers an example of the use of urban sustainability indicators in an emerging region that experiences rapid urbanization and growth. The substantial objective of this study was to develop a functional framework of indicators to assess and measure urban sustainability for the city after KR’s declaration of autonomy in 1991 until 2010. That is, we limited our investigation to examining previous research, which decisively contains the approach to “measuring urban sustainability”. The study followed a three-step approach to examine urban sustainability as an integration of a few other relevant studies. The study concluded with two facts: First, the lack of progress on urban sustainability in the first decades resulted from the destabilized era that left the city administratively fragmented. Second, the political and economic watershed led to steady progress towards urban sustainability post-2005. The study highlights nine urban sustainability indicators, from a total of 39 indicators, that played an important role in navigating the general trend of urban sustainability in the city and how they can be used to promote future sustainable practices.

Incidence of Photovoltaics in Cities Based on Indicators of Occupancy and Urban Sustainability

Previous research has assessed the potential of solar energy against possible demand; however, the sustainability issues associated with the use of large-scale photovoltaic deployment in urban areas have not been jointly established. In this paper, the impact of photovoltaic energy in the total urban energy mix is estimated using a series of indicators that consider the economic, environmental and social dimensions. These indicators have been previously applied at the country level; the main contribution of this research is applying them at the urban level to the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is close to the equatorial line and at a high altitude, enabling this area to reach the maximum self-supply index because of the high irradiation levels and reduced demand. The solar potential was estimated using a simple methodology that applies several indexes that were proven reliable in a local context considering this particular sun path. The results demonstrate that the solar potential can meet the electric power demand of this city, and only the indicator related to employment is positive and substantially affected. The indicators related to the price of energy, emissions and fossil fuel dependency do not change significantly, unless a fuel-to-electricity transport system conversions take place.

Determining Sustainability Assessment Indicators for the Holy City of Makkah, Saudi Arabia

The development of urban sustainability indicators has become one of the new topics explored around the world, while cities are growing uncontrollably. The different cities adopt their sustainability assessment indicators according to their local needs and conditions. The current state of sustainability assessment practices depicts that an assessment approach is hardly found in a comprehensive and integrated manner that can meet local conditions, as well as international norms. Historically and traditionally, the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, is one of the oldest and most sacred cities in the world where millions of Muslims gather in this city as a religious pilgrimage throughout the year. The unique form of the city and the gradual increase in the number of pilgrims pose enormous challenges for city dwellers, as well as management authorities. As a result, the development of a sustainability assessment approach has become inevitable to deal with these challenges. This study presents a comprehensive sustainability assessment indicator index for the Holy City of Makkah through the use of an expert opinion method to reach consensus among the experienced researchers in the city. A set of 92 indicators has been formulated among 115 primary sets, with five major aspects, including the physical, socioeconomic, environmental, institutional and spillover, which influence and shape the performance of the city.

A methodology for urban sustainability indicator design

In recent times we have witnessed proliferation of indicators and models for measuring sustainability. This reveals the lack of common and shared scientific paradigm/common framework from which to confront the issue of quantitatively assessing the sustainability of our society. With the aim of moving forward the definition of such common framework, in this article we explain an easy formal methodology for designing urban sustainability indicators based on Fuzzy Logic / Fuzzy Sets Theory. The interest of this methodology is threefold: Firstly, formal procedures enable easier testing , a most fundamental issue forgotten in many current proposals of sustainability indicators. Secondly, a formal procedure is easily understandable and can become a common language allowing shared use of the indicators and facilitating their continuous improvement . And thirdly, fuzzy logic is widely used in computing and artificial intelligence , thus facilitating the progressive automation of our sustainability monitoring models. To help understand the procedure, the design of two indicators is reviewed.

Urban Sprawl Sustainability of Mountainous Cities in the Context of Climate Change Adaptability Using a Coupled Coordination Model: A Case Study of Chongqing, China

In recent years, a noticeable contradiction has emerged between the disorderly sprawl and fragile climate environment of many cities, especially in mountainous cities. Therefore, this paper respectively constructed evaluation indicators for urban sprawl sustainability (USS) and climate change adaptability (CCA). Next, a coupling coordination degree model was used to measure the coordinated development of USS and CCA. Finally, this paper analyzed the coordinated development type of USS and CCA in the Chongqing metropolitan area from 2007 to 2017. The results of this paper show that USS and CCA have gradually shifted to coordinated development in the Chongqing metropolitan area during the study period. However, there were obvious regional differences in the type of coordinated development in the Chongqing metropolitan area. The coordinated development degree of USS and CCA in nine districts ranged from 0.635 to 0.721 in 2017. It can be divided into three types: slightly coordinated development with lagging CCA; slightly coordinated development with lagging USS; and moderately coordinated development with lagging CCA. Those districts should give priority to the use of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), and multi-center and multi-group approaches to enhance the coordinated development between USS and CCA, which is also helpful for mountainous cities in China and other countries.

URBAN SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS ASSESSMENT THROUGH AIRBORNE EARTH OBSERVATION: LESSONS LEARNED

Abstract. Europe’s big cities and metropolitan areas constitute an ecosystem where climate trends are having, and will continue to have, a big impact on the population in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, the task of generating a mapping approach over urban ecosystems to provide indicators assessing their sustainability and facilitating the design and implementation of policies and derived actions has become a priority for the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC) as a mapping agency.The ICGC has been using its own assets and competences in airborne Earth Observation for data capture and processing as well as inclusion of additional data such as cadastral databases and digital surface models to generate a set of urban sustainability indicators. ICGC has designed flight campaigns at a very high spatial and spectral resolution in visible, near infrared and long wave infrared regions, processed geospatial data and finally transformed geoinformation into demanded ICGC products over urban ecosystems such as urban green, solar potential, light pollution, energy leaks or urban heat island effect. This approach has been applied in coordination with urban planning stakeholders in different cities and is planned to be extended to the majority of urban ecosystems in Catalonia.This paper presents a critical summary of the main advantages, disadvantages, constrains and lessons learned in the search for feasible, available and desirable responses from the earth-observation airborne-sensor point of view to the main urban ecosystem challenges.

Can ISO-Defined Urban Sustainability Indicators Be Derived from Remote Sensing: An Expert Weighting Approach

In the context of the United Nations’ “Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development” and the presented Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the process of developing and agreeing on indicators to monitor the SDGs implementation becomes fundamental. In this paper, we identify indicators for the sustainable development of cities that have the greatest potential for their underlying data to be measured by means of remote sensing. We first identified existing indicators, which are derived from the International Standard ISO 37120, “Indicators for city services and quality of life”, as being partly or fully measured by the use of remote sensing, and then presented these indicators to remote sensing experts in an assessment procedure. We then investigated Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) weighting methods to identify the most relevant quality of life indicators that can be captured by means of remote sensing techniques. We assess the remote sensing experts’ knowledge in the context of Decision Support Systems (DSS), and by means of both a questionnaire-based approach and a pairwise comparison approach. The approaches are compared with each other regarding their complexity, their potentials and limitations, and the respectively identified remote sensing based indicators. We identified three indicators related to surface characteristics as having the highest remote sensing potential. When contrasted to the results of the pairwise comparison, the questionnaire-based approach revealed high usability and confirmability. In the end, this approach enables cities’ administrations to decide which indicators they want to cover by means of remote sensing, depending on the capacities of their departments.

Urban sustainability indicators re-visited: lessons from property-led urban development in China

This paper proposes a bespoke urban sustainability indicator framework in the context of China’s prevalent property-led urban development. Emphasising local characteristics and incorporating underlying institutions, it advocates a more nuanced, holistic and dynamic approach when addressing sustainability issues. Selection of indicators were based on extensive literature reviews and tested through an international expert survey comprising both China-based and overseas-based experts. The two groups of experts have shown divergent views, with the former prioritising economic and institutional aspects over environmental and social factors. It also provides transferable policy insights into developing countries more generally, given many similarities in broader development challenges. Discussion on recent literature and urban development reinforces the applicability of these tailor-made indicators to not only monitoring but also explaining and predicting urban changes. We argue it is necessary to recognise the centrality of property-led urban development in urban sustainable development, and the need for examining the complex relations between the property sector and urban sustainability via inclusion of institutional analysis and a multi-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative evaluations.

Urban Sustainability Indicators from a Regional Perspective: Lessons from the Montreal Metropolitan Area

In this paper, we assess the performance variation of the municipalities in the greater Montreal area between 2005 and 2010 for a set of 12 common urban sustainability indicators. We then measure the global and local spatial autocorrelation of each indicator’s variation in order to describe the regional distribution of the indicators. Three different patterns emerge from this analysis: (1) converging pattern; (2) diverging pattern, and (3) random pattern of the performance variation of the municipalities across the region. The results suggest the relevance of further research on the potential spillover effects of an individual city’s performance, which could be overlooked because a local administration’s monitoring of progress is generally performed within its own jurisdiction. Examples of urban sustainability issues for which assessment and monitoring could be more effective at a regional scale include urban densification and public security.

Towards Sustainable New Settlements in Egypt: Lessons Learned from a Comparison between Traditional and Modern Settlements in Greater Cairo Region - Egypt

The last few decades, Egypt drawn into a dramatic socio-economic change that causes a relative change in adopted development patterns. Different typologies of new residential districts have turned from globalized westernized world into Egyptian context. Planners and authority thought that changing adopted development patterns from traditional to modern neighborhood could provide solutions for old town's problems. On the other hand, different scholars have emphasized that traditional compact, mixed use, high-density urban forms are important for reaching sustainability goals in term of environmental, economic and social advantages. Based on a comparison of the sustainability of three case studies Shubra, Heliopolis, and new Cairo city; this research examine analyze the sustainability of New Egyptian Settlements. The analysis depends on observation and spatial analysis to investigate the variations of performances between the three case studies in terms of urban, social, environmental, and economic sustainability indicators. The research aims to assess the sustainability of moving from traditional to modern urban form in GCR' new towns and to extract development criteria and lessons learned from traditional urban form to enhance the sustainability of modern settlements. The research concluded that both traditional early developed settlements like Shubra and new planned settlements like new Cairo recorded low performance in sustainability issues, each one in its own way; and that early planned settlements like Heliopolis recorded moderate performance in sustainability issues, this paves the way for criteria to prepare new plans of new settlements and provide intensification repair tools to fix existing new settlements.

Evaluation of Developmental Progress in Some Cities of Punjab, Pakistan, Using Urban Sustainability Indicators

Sustainable urbanization is a challenge to human beings in the modern era of technology. Cities all over the world are facing several problems due to urbanization and industrialization. Urban problems could be assessed through development of indices of urban sustainability on the basis of its three dimensions: environment, economics and social. The present study was conducted to identify indicators to develop indices for assessment of sustainability in some populated cities of Punjab. The study focused on the indicators based on environmental, economic and social development to develop a rational indicator system on the basis of secondary data collected from 2004 to 2014. A total of 40 indicators were identified to assess the urban sustainability progress in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala and Faisalabad cities. The result of the sub-indices indicated that poor performance was evident in the environmental sector, rather than in the economic and social sectors. The cities scored between 0.27 and 0.58 in environmental dimensions, showing a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2014. The declining trend of indices was due to population influx, rapid urbanization, reduction in green areas, industrialization, high level of atmospheric and water pollutants. In case of the economic sector, an increasing trend was observed which indicates the gradual improvement in living standards of people. In the social dimensions of the indicator system, less variations were observed among the cities and ranged between 0.49 and 0.58. Overall, the results of the urban sustainability index showed score was ranges between 0.41 to 0.52. None of the Punjab cities attained the position as a sustainable city (0.75) Lahore (0.52) and Faisalabad (0.52) were ranked as moderately sustainable cities, whereas, Rawalpindi (0.48), Gujranwala (0.47) and Multan (0.41) were ranked as weak sustainable cities. The study highlighted that the urban sustainability indicator system could be useful to determine the existing sustainability in cities of the developing countries for better resource management practices.

Assessment tools for urban sustainability policies in Spanish Mediterranean tourist areas

Spanish Mediterranean tourist cities have traditionally been developed under compact urban patterns, following pre-existing urban forms. However, during the last two decades, the transformation of these areas has challenged the original character of Mediterranean cities, replacing it with urban sprawl growth patterns; functional specialization areas derived from tourist and leisure economic activities; and the creation of new private open spaces. Assessing the current status of these urban tourist areas is crucial to developing the necessary strategies for their renovation and future transformation into sustainable and liveable cities and territories.The objective of this research is to design a specific tool to assess Spanish Mediterranean tourist cities that considers their urban singularities. For this purpose, existing urban sustainability indicator systems were selected and reviewed. Due to the thematic gaps and inaccuracies found in these systems when applied to urban tourist areas, several indicators were tailored and a new set of indicators was included for their assessment. The new tool comprises twenty-seven urban descriptors including: pre-existing parameters; tailored indicators; and a new set of descriptors to reflect the specific features of Spanish Mediterranean tourist cities. They are grouped into eight approaches that provide in-depth analysis of the three singular urban attributes of these areas: land occupation; complexity of economic activities; and outdoor spaces.

Assessing household energy uses: An online interactive tool dedicated to citizens and local stakeholders

This paper presents the SOLEN integrated online tool, dedicated to citizens and local authorities. This methodology, developed to allow precise energy assessment (heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, appliances, and cooking but also local production of renewable energy) of household energy uses, is firstly introduced. SOLEN uses a typological classification of buildings and thermal simulations. Many parameters are defined and taken into account to capture the specificities of numerous types of buildings exhaustively (e.g. type of buildings; number of floors; common ownership; orientation; thermal performances of the walls, floors, roofs, and windows; and ventilation type). These results related to building energy consumption are then crossed, in an integrated approach, with several indicators of urban sustainability, to take into account in the balance of the impact of the location of buildings on transportation energy consumption or the impact of the urban form on the production of solar renewable energy. This tool makes accessible to a large non-specialized audience the results of a three-year scientific research study in Wallonia (Belgium) and was awarded an Energy Globe Award (Belgium) in 2014. The first feedback from users is presented to conclude this contribution.

Assessing the ecological dimension of urban resilience and sustainability

ABSTRACTWe propose a framework for a package of Urban Sustainability and Resilience Indicators (USRI) based on a holistic approach to urban dynamics that we name the ‘pyramid of urban resilience and sustainability’. We start with a concise discussion of the concepts of urban resilience and sustainability, their synergies and trade-offs. We then make a point of the need for an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to assess progress towards or away from urban sustainability and resilience; and delineate an analytical framework that enables a comprehensive approach to ‘the urban’ by addressing not only ecological but also economic, sociocultural and governance dimensions. We critically reflect on its potential (and limits) by applying it to the case of Mexico City. The paper presents preliminary results for the ecological dimension of such a framework, and insights from the case of solid waste.USRI offers the potential for a systemic approach to urban sustainability and resilience. Yet, some limitations are evident, mostly related to data availability at the urban level, complexity to aggregate and weight data, the limited efforts for knowledge coproduction and the incorporation of participatory processes, and the need to cautiously translate findings – and their inherent uncertainties – into decision-making.

Indicators of environmental loading and sustainability of urban systems. An emergy-based environmental footprint

Cities are the engine of economic development and human wellbeing, but their dynamics needs to be supported by the convergence of large flows of material and energy resources. Assessing a city resource metabolism becomes increasingly crucial, not only concerning the relation with the environment as a source or a sink, but also concerning the internal dynamics of resource exchange among city components and sectors. We applied Emergy Accounting (EMA) and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) methods to develop and validate indicators of urban environmental sustainability, using as case studies five urban systems of different size in Italy. CED allowed an assessment of the commercial energy consumption required on local and global scales to support the city life and economy. Airborne emissions related to direct and indirect energy consumption were also assessed. EMA was used to quantify the environmental support required for the urban metabolism, in terms of resource generation and ecosystem services supply. Combining these three aspects, a new metric is discussed and developed to estimate the environmental impact of cities, with reference to their resource use, in order to implement comprehensive indicators and suggest resource use criteria at urban level. A city’s support area to buffer upstream and downstream environmental loading is also calculated. Relative and absolute sustainability concepts are introduced and discussed, showing how far the investigated cities are from a resource-based environmentally sustainable state. Finally, practices are suggested as an exit strategy from the present intensive fossil powered economy towards a higher level of environmental sustainability and wellbeing.