scholarly journals Context-Based Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment in Birmingham, Alabama

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9426
Author(s):  
Jimmy Hilley ◽  
Sunhui Sim
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Geographical Patterns ◽  
Neighborhood Scale ◽  
The City

Sustainability assessment is widely used to monitor public policy toward sustainable development (SD). However, such tools have been less developed at the local level. This research examined sustainability indicators (SIs) applied at the neighborhood scale. The indicators were developed by examination of previously developed sustainability rating systems and issues specific to the City of Birmingham, Alabama, USA. The indicators of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment (NSA) systems addressed the three major dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social. The rating system was applied to all neighborhoods, and geographical patterns were analyzed. The ability to analyze the sustainability of all neighborhoods within the city provides information on which areas are performing well and which areas need more attention to become more sustainable.

scholarly journals Sustainable Development in Cities: A Qualitative Approach to Evaluate Rating Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 2990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheil Arabi ◽  
Mahmood Golabchi ◽  
Mehrab Darabpour
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Fitting Method ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
Development Paradigm ◽  
The City ◽  
Selection Of

Sustainable development paradigm is one of the dominant paradigms of the century. In 1987, “Our Common Future,” the Brundtland Commission adopted the concept of “sustainable development” to challenge the dominant paradigm of development as equivalent to economic growth. Using rating systems is like a plan in order to implement sustainable development. Moreover, Tehran as the capital of Iran and a megalopolis needs an appropriate rating system to be assessed in context of sustainable development. Be that as it may, Selection of a rating system pivots on the paradigm of the planner that how the planner describes the development and what are the planner's preferences; and also on the priorities of the city planned to be developed. This research has tried to evaluate rating systems to unveil their qualities to afford city planners an opportunity to use an appropriate approach of sustainable development. Authors of this research hold the opinion that if planners' preferences and priorities of a city can be in step with a rating system, the best result will occur. Furthermore, it was decided to do the evaluation in the context of ASTM E2432. In this research rating systems of ISCA, BREEAM, LEED-ND, CASBEE, Green star, DGNB were chosen to be evaluated. On the other hand, the obstacles of implementing sustainable development in Tehran were identified. Finally, LEED-ND was identified as the best rating system among above-mentioned ones. Since the research was exploratory research, a qualitative approach was selected to do the evaluation. Consequently, structured interviewing was applied as a fitting method and the technique of pile sorting was used to collect data in interviews as well.

scholarly journals Sustainable development in the city of Heidelberg

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (313) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicja Małgorzata Graczyk
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Heat ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Awareness ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
High Level ◽  
The City

The city of Heidelberg has won twice the price of European Sustainable City Award. The paper presents the latest author’s investigation (July 2014) about the sustainable development in the Heidelberg. The aim of the article is an analyses and assessment of the implementation of sustainable development in the city. The policy and economical instruments implemented at the local level at the very early stage (early 90s) help the city to build ecological education and shape ecological style of life.. The city citizens have a very high level of ecological awareness and very often participate in policy decisions, shaping sustainable development goals of the Heidelberg. The main local priorities for sustainable development are: climate and environment protection, rising energy efficiency by using renewable energy sources, local heat district, ecological transport and building in passive standard.

Approaches for Measuring Sustainability

2013 ◽  
pp. 158-184
Author(s):  
Evangelos Grigoroudis ◽  
Vassilis S. Kouikoglou ◽  
Yannis A. Phillis
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Measuring Technique ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Limits To Growth

The environment provides the economy with resources (e.g., water, air, fuels, food, metals, minerals, and drugs), services (e.g., the cycles of H2O, C, CO2, N, O2; photosynthesis, and soil formation), and mechanisms to absorb waste. Economic growth is based on these three services, and since the global ecosystem does not grow, economic growth cannot continue indefinitely. The concepts of sustainability and sustainable development have received much attention among policy-makers and scientists as a result of the existence of limits to growth and the dramatic environmental changes of the last decades. Sustainability integrates environmental, economic, and societal aspects. It also covers different geographical scales: ecosystems, regions, countries, and the globe. In this chapter, the authors review various models of sustainability assessment. Since there is no universally accepted definition and measuring technique of sustainability, these different models lead to different assessments. They also present a discussion of the sustainability indicators, aggregation tools, and data imputation techniques used in each approach.

scholarly journals Mapping Heat Stress Vulnerability and Risk Assessment at the Neighborhood Scale to Drive Urban Adaptation Planning

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Maragno ◽  
Michele Dalla Fontana ◽  
Francesco Musco
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Stress Vulnerability ◽  
Neighborhood Scale ◽  
The City

Climate change is one of the most complex issues of the 21st century, and even though there is general consensus about the urgency of taking action at the city level, the planning and implementation of adaptation measures is advancing slowly. The lack of data and information to support the planning process is often mentioned as a factor hampering the adaptation processes in cities. In this paper, we developed and tested a methodology for heat stress vulnerability and risk assessment at the neighborhood scale to support designers, planners, and decision makers in developing and implementing adaptation strategies and measures at the local level. The methodology combines high-resolution spatial information and crowdsourcing geospatial data to develop sensitivity, adaptive capacity, vulnerability, exposure, and risk indicators. The methodology is then tested on the urban fabric of the city of Padova, Italy. Our results show that different vulnerability and risk values correspond to different typologies of urban areas. Furthermore, the possibility of combining high-resolution information provided by the indicators and land use categories is of great importance to support the adaptation planning process. We also argue that the methodology is flexible enough to be applied in different contexts.

scholarly journals Toward a Holistic Rating System: An Attempt to Expand the Boundaries of Building Sustainability Using SDGs

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierluca Vitale ◽  
Vincenzo Alfano ◽  
Tommaso Pastore ◽  
Costantino Menna ◽  
Pietro Maffettone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Mathematical Framework ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Development Goals

Several frameworks have been developed for mitigating the environmental impact of human activities. Among them, possibly the most forward-thinking are the Sustainable Development Goals set out in UN Agenda 2030, which are often cited by stakeholders at various levels. Nevertheless, when it comes to policy tools, defining goals relating to sustainability is not straightforward. In this contribution, we use a mathematical framework to compare the goals of Agenda 2030 with the assessments possible with three different building-rating systems, BREEAM, LEED and ITACA. Our results show that these tools address sustainability very differently to the intentions of the SDGs. However, a number of minor changes could easily make the assessments produced by these evaluation systems on this issue more complete.

When Do Renters Behave Like Homeowners? High Rent, Price Anxiety, and NIMBYism

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL HANKINSON
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Spatial Scale ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Experimental Measurements ◽  
High Rent ◽  
Neighborhood Scale ◽  
The City

How does spatial scale affect support for public policy? Does supporting housing citywide but “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) help explain why housing has become increasingly difficult to build in once-affordable cities? I use two original surveys to measure how support for new housing varies between the city scale and neighborhood scale. Together, an exit poll of 1,660 voters during the 2015 San Francisco election and a national survey of over 3,000 respondents provide the first experimental measurements of NIMBYism. While homeowners are sensitive to housing’s proximity, renters typically do not express NIMBYism. However, in high-rent cities, renters demonstrate NIMBYism on par with homeowners, despite continuing to support large increases in the housing supply citywide. These scale-dependent preferences not only help explain the deepening affordability crisis, but show how institutions can undersupply even widely supported public goods. When preferences are scale dependent, the scale of decision-making matters.

scholarly journals Towards Sustainable Middle Eastern Cities: A Local Sustainability Assessment Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-63
Author(s):  
Mustafa Al-Alwani ◽  
Steve Goodhew ◽  
Wei Pan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Local Sustainability ◽  
Key Indicators

To assist in making Middle Eastern cities more sustainable a guiding methodological framework for local sustainability assessment is key to achieving a sustainable future. This paper investigates available frameworks and develops an approach to local sustainability assessment (LSA), by constructing a methodological framework utilising a combination of (bottom-up) and (top-down) approaches. This facilitates the formulation, selection and prioritisation of key indicators, which can then guide the assessment of a city’s sustainability at a local level in the Middle East. The paper finally applies the LSA methodological framework to the Iraqi city of Hilla and succeeds in formulating and ranking 57 useful and valid sustainability indicators.

scholarly journals The Geographical Indication Pathway to Sustainability: A Framework to Assess and Monitor the Contributions of Geographical Indications to Sustainability through a Participatory Process

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7535
Author(s):  
Emilie Vandecandelaere ◽  
Luis Fernando Samper ◽  
Andrés Rey ◽  
Ana Daza ◽  
Pablo Mejía ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Geographical Indications ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Sustainability Strategy

Geographical Indications (GIs) are widely considered as tools to contribute to sustainability (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations—FAO, 2009; 2017), if established and well managed. While the literature may not always agree on the positive effects of GIs in all sustainability dimensions (e.g., economic, social, and environmental), there is evidence that engaging GI producers in a sustainability strategy can maximize their contribution to different components of sustainable development. FAO and oriGIn developed the sustainability strategy for GI (SSGI) to support GI producers and their associations so that they could engage in a place-based and participative approach in order to generate concrete progress and results. This paper presents original research for building both a framework and database for the selection and use of relevant sustainability indicators for GIs. A number of SSGI principles have guided the work throughout an iterative process for reviewing, selecting, and improving relevant indicators, while the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture (SAFA) has provided the structure to align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other widely used and recognized sustainability frameworks. As a result of this work, a database of 372 robust sustainability indicators that are relevant to GIs have been characterized to facilitate their use by practitioners. The discussion highlights the importance of the place-based approach, and the participative, inclusive process that represents the key to empowerment and the ability to develop alliances. It also focuses on action, and the need to strengthen both internal and external communication.

scholarly journals City-Scale Decarbonization Strategy with Integrated Hydroelectricity-Powered Energy Systems: An Analysis of the Possibilities in Guadalajara, Mexico

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dulce Esmeralda García Ruíz ◽  
Jorge Alberto Navarro Serrano
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
Public Policy Decisions ◽  
The City

According to the UN, in the next 20 years, most of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Cities consume a high amount of resources, between this water, for their sustenance, hence the greatest necessity of sustainable development plans. What viable options or strategies can we consider in Latin America such that it can resist the economic, political, and social changes that it is facing? Through prospective studies, in case of Guadalajara, it is possible to determinate how water can generate clean energy, and which are the other strategic areas to empower the city through decarbonization with an interoperative and smart loop system of co-benefits. This study can help in public policy decisions of medium-sized cities in Latin America.

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