Challenges facing indicators to become a universal language for sustainable urban development

Ruan, Fangli; Liang, Yan

doi:10.1002/sd.2227

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The concept of sustainability is growing in importance for local urban governance, and indicator-based assessments represent a popular means for its implementation [81]. Indicators are a powerful tool to address urban sustainability issues and have gained increasing attention [82]. However, making them a universal 'language' to solve this global problem remains a challenge and a controversy.…”

Section: Global Numerical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment through Urban Accessibility Indicators and GIS in a Middle-Sized World Heritage City: The Case of Cáceres, Spain

2022

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The main objective of the research consists of quantifying the degree of sustainability of the city of Cáceres in terms of the inhabitant’s accessibility to public services through the use of GIS tools and urban indicators, taking into account two areas of study: The Historic Centre (PCH) and the city as a whole. The methodology applied is based on the criteria proposed by the Spanish Government derived from the Spanish Strategy for Urban and Local Sustainability (EESUL), which suggests suitable indicators for analysing urban environments. The degree of sustainability of the study areas, applied to the field of mobility and accessibility to public services, is evaluated through numerical calculations complementing the study with accessibility maps obtained using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. The results show that the city of Cáceres is sustainable in terms of accessibility to bus stops, organic waste containers, household waste recycling centre, schools and education, health centres, and public administration. However, bike parking coverage and lanes, clothes and oil collection, and sports centres need to be further enhanced. In conclusion, there is little disparity in the results between the PCH and the city as a whole, not influenced by the fact that one of the areas is a consolidated historic area. This research has allowed some gaps in the topic to be addressed. However, the main limitation of this methodology consists in the need to have a considerable amount of initial starting data to be able to carry out the research. Finally, the sustainability analysis using urban indicators is considered a valuable source of information for the local manager, becoming a real planning tool in medium-sized cities.

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Section: Global Numerical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment through Urban Accessibility Indicators and GIS in a Middle-Sized World Heritage City: The Case of Cáceres, Spain

2022

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“…Firstly, the indicator system of the urban system is established in consideration of data accessibility and previous studies [35,36,40,41], as shown in Table 2. This paper mainly collects data from Shanghai Statistical Yearbooks, and the simulation span is 1995-2030.…”

Section: Indicator System and Data Sourcementioning

confidence: 99%

The Driving Role of Food and Cultivated Land Resource in Balancing the Complex Urban System of Socio-Economy and Environment: A Case Study of Shanghai City in China

Ruan

2023

Land

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Food is increasingly seen as a vehicle to address complex sustainability challenges, where the quantitative driving role in balancing the complex urban system of socio-economy and environment is still a gap. To fill this gap, taking Shanghai city as an example, this paper utilizes system dynamics to innovatively set three policy scenarios that aim at adjusting food security and cultivated land resources. The results confirm their positive role in socioeconomic and environmental improvement and coordinated development. In the high-rate grain yield growth scenario, the labor force ratio of the primary industry increases back to the size of 2012 (4.1%), the proportion of the primary industrial investment grows at twice the rate of the current trend, the grain yield per unit area increases back to the capacity of 1997 (798.154 t/km2), and simultaneously, the occupation of cultivated land resources by the secondary industry and the negative impact of environmental pollution on productivity are mitigated. In that case, the coordination level between the socio-economy and the environment can keep increasing. The results indicate that future urban planning should increase the input of labor force and assets in the primary industry, improve food productivity per unit area through technical means or person training, alleviate the occupation of cultivated land resources by the secondary industry, and mitigate the negative impact of environmental pollution on cultivated land productivity.

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“…Indicators are things that we measure for different purposes like comparing cases, exploring relationships between variables, and raising public awareness (Miller, 2001). Meanwhile, Ruan and Yan (2022, 41) define indicators as “measurable and quantifiable variables that are the building blocks of any objective assessment”. In other words, a main utility of indicators is to show how far we are from our objectives and identify problem areas (Dizdaroglu, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A set of 99 healthy city indicators for application in urban planning and design

Bafarasat

Cheshmehzangi

Ankowska

2023

Sustainable Development

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Despite much interest in healthy, sustainable cities, currently they are often on the margins of urban planning and design, not the centre. Part of the reason for this is technical. Many planners are interested in designing healthier cities but wonder how to link their objectives with actions. This study develops 99 indicators for a healthy city. The basis for the development of indicators was the 11 objectives of a healthy city according to the World Health Organisation. Application of these indicators helps push healthy city objectives to the centre of urban planning and design in two ways: (I) the indicators can show gap with each objective; and (II) monitoring the indicators over time can show the performance of solutions for each objective. It is possible to explore synergies and trade-offs between the 11 objectives of healthy cities by examining the relationships between their 99 indicators. Trade-offs between healthy city objectives in some contexts might require local adjustment of these objectives. This, in turn, would require adjustment of their indicators. Thus, the set of 99 indicators can be used as a starting point in an iterative process of adapting healthy city objectives and indicators to local circumstances. K E Y W O R D S cities, healthy city, indicators, sustainable development, urban design, urban health, urban planning 1 | INTRODUCTION There are several sets of indicators for healthy cities, so why does this study develop another one? The existing sets of indicators are organised in categories of health determinants. So, if these indicators are meant to detect gaps with the objectives of healthy cities and show problem areas, it is unclear what indicators relate to what objectives. As indicators do not flow from objectives, it is also difficult to understand if some indicators are missing, less relevant or more critical. This study aims to develop healthy city indicators that flow from healthy city objectives. It involves a mixed-method study that results in a set of essential indicators. Most of indicators of this study are either refined from existing indicators or new indicators to match the objectives of healthy cities. 1.1 | Healthy city: Context and significance "A healthy city is one that puts health, social wellbeing, equity and sustainable development at the centre of local policies, strategies and programmes based on core values of the right to health and-wellbeing, peace, social justice, gender equality, solidarity, social inclusion and sustainable development and guided by

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Challenges facing indicators to become a universal language for sustainable urban development

Cited by 15 publications

References 64 publications

Sustainability Assessment through Urban Accessibility Indicators and GIS in a Middle-Sized World Heritage City: The Case of Cáceres, Spain

Sustainability Assessment through Urban Accessibility Indicators and GIS in a Middle-Sized World Heritage City: The Case of Cáceres, Spain

The Driving Role of Food and Cultivated Land Resource in Balancing the Complex Urban System of Socio-Economy and Environment: A Case Study of Shanghai City in China

A set of 99 healthy city indicators for application in urban planning and design

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