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In the recent past, sustainable development has been considered a major issue for urban and regional studies. Adaptive reuse appears to be a practical solution for sustainable urban development. Beyond and in addition to a conceptual base consistent with circular economy and sustainability principles, how do we know if adaptive reuse is actually sustainable, provided that it constitutes a multidisciplinary and multilevel process? The present study aims at evaluating, in as much as feasible quantitative terms, adaptive reuse practices sustainability. This was attained using a set of indicators, developed combining PESTLE (the Political, Economic, Technical, Social, Legal, and Environmental aspects) and SWOT (the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) approaches, of which the results were subjected to evaluation by experts (pairwise comparisons), following the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The indicators representing strengths and opportunities of the process were calculated to be of higher value (overall level of final cumulative indicators values; 70.4%) compared with indicators representing weaknesses and threats. Enhancing strengths and opportunities and counteracting weaknesses and threats contribute making the potential of adaptive reuse practices in urban sustainability more evident. Among analysis dimensions, political and economic aspects rank first, followed by environmental, socio-cultural, technological-technical, and legal aspect. The empirical results of this paper serve as a useful reference point for decision-making and policy formulation addressing adaptive reuse practices in sustainable development strategies.

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Tourism is an activity that can have a truly major impact on sustainable development. EU recorded in excess of 440m visitor arrivals in 2005. Tourism, directly and indirectly, accounts for around 10% of European GDP and 20m jobs. Europeans account for over half of all international travel, and visits by Europeans provide an important source of income for many developing countries. In 2005 the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) identified an agenda of 12 aims for sustainable tourism. The EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) has three key objectives: Economic prosperity, Social equity and cohesion and Environmental protection. Tourism businesses could function properly under the sustainability model and they have mentioned "environmental education programmes" and "establishment of co-operation and partnerships among local, regional and state stakeholders and authorities" as the most sustainable actions. The standard is and must be applicable to any organization that wishes to (a) Increase the environmental responsibility of tourism enterprises, (b) Increase the capacity of local administration on monitoring sustainable tourism, (c) Create a transactional network of shared planning and management policies for sustainable tourism, (d) Exchange best practices and knowledge in the field of sustainable tourism. This paper briefly describes the general requirements of MESST.

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