THE ENVIRONMENT COMPONENT IN SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL PLAN

This article discusses the needs and a possible methodology for assessing the environmental sustainability of local plan. Taking local needs and data available into consideration, using Kuala Selangor District as a hypothetical example, the possibility is explored and visualised spatially. Institutional efforts at sustainability indicators development are also highlighted, beginning with questioning our goals and objectives for development and environmental sustainability to select meaningful indicators.

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Environmental sustainability of facilities management

Built Environment Project and Asset Management ◽

10.1108/bepam-12-2018-0157 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 261-276

Author(s):

Nimesha Sahani Jayasena ◽

Harshini Mallawaarachchi ◽

Lalith De Silva

Keyword(s):

Asset Management ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Process Analysis ◽

Relative Weight ◽

Apparel Industry ◽

Sustainability Indicators ◽

Facilities Management ◽

Content Type ◽

Hierarchy Process

Purpose Rapid changes in the environment escalate the requirement of environmental sustainability assessment within built environment. The purpose of this paper is to model the environmental sustainability of facilities management (FM) functions in apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive literature review was carried out in order to identify the importance of sustainability assessment for FM, sustainable FM functions and their environmental sustainability indicators. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was carried out to determine a relative weight of the sustainable FM functions and environmental sustainability indicators through the analytical hierarchy process analysis. Findings Energy management was identified as the most significant FM function in terms of environmental sustainability in apparel industry with a relative performance of 49.12 per cent. Subsequently, the functions of water management (29.39 per cent), maintenance management (11.98 per cent) and waste management (9.64 per cent) obtained the second, third and fourth ranks while asset management (7.85 per cent) was the function which had the least performance score. Relative weights for the environmental sustainability indicators were also determined. Research limitations/implications In respect of the apparel industry, the developed model can be utilised for assessing the environmental sustainability of FM in broader term. Originality/value No proper mechanism was found to assess the sustainability of FM in apparel sector since very fewer research studies were focussed on achieving environmental sustainability in different industries. Hence, the assessment of environmental sustainability of FM in apparel industry is an emerging necessity in the present day, which was addressed in this research.

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Towards Sustainable Middle Eastern Cities: A Local Sustainability Assessment Framework

Journal of University of Babylon for Engineering Sciences ◽

10.29196/jubes.v27i2.2321 ◽

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.

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Context-Based Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment in Birmingham, Alabama

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12229426 ◽

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.

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Assessing the Regional Sustainability of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration from 2000 to 2015 Using the Human Sustainable Development Index

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11113160 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 3160 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shiyin Chen ◽

Qingxu Huang ◽

Ziwen Liu ◽

Shiting Meng ◽

Dan Yin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Sustainability Indicators ◽

Urban Agglomeration ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Energy Structure ◽

Resource Saving ◽

Regional Sustainability ◽

Development Index

Sustainability assessment can analyze the challenges of regional development from societal, economic, and environmental dimensions and provide an important baseline for regional planning. Recently, the rapid socio-economic development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration has inflicted great pressure on the regional environment. Therefore, this paper evaluated the sustainability dynamics of the BTH urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2015 at the city scale using the Human Sustainable Development Index (HSDI) and discussed the major drivers of the changes in regional sustainability. The results showed that the overall sustainability of the BTH urban agglomeration increased from 2000 to 2015, with the HSDI increasing by 10%. Among the three dimensions, the economic sustainability indicators grew the fastest, with a growth rate of 42%, while the environmental sustainability indicators declined by 8%. The decline of environmental sustainability played an important role in limiting regional sustainable development. Specifically, the optimization of the energy structure in six cities, e.g., Tangshan, Langfang and Cangzhou, was relatively weaker than that in the remaining seven cities. In the future, the BTH urban agglomeration must further optimize the energy structure to build a resource-saving and environmentally friendly society.

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Wie nachhaltig ist die Schweizer Forstpolitik? Das Nachhaltigkeits-Assessment der Schweizer Forstpolitik: Vorgehen und wichtigste Resultate | How Sustainable Is Swiss Forest Policy? The Sustainability Assessment of Swiss Forest Policy: Approach and Main Results

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2000.0472 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 151 (12) ◽

pp. 472-479 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ingrid Kissling-Näf

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Sustainable Forest Management ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Forest Policy ◽

Sustainability Indicators ◽

International Level ◽

Definition Of ◽

International Experts

A group of international experts evaluated whether the aims and instruments of Swiss forest policy are suitable for the promotion of sustainable forest management based on the pan-European criteria. Approach and main results are presented as well as the method developed for the definition of sustainability indicators as an instrument for the evaluation of sectoral policies and the possibility of a transfer of methods and indicators on an international level.

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Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Challenges in Szekszárd Wine Region, Hungary

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9020025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 25

Author(s):

Attila Buzási

Keyword(s):

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Evaluation Methodology ◽

Intrinsic Factors ◽

Vulnerability Assessments ◽

The Future ◽

Climate Vulnerability ◽

High Level ◽

Wine Region ◽

Lock In

Wine producers face several challenges regarding climate change, which will affect this industry both in the present and the future. Vulnerability assessments are at the forefront of current climate research, therefore, the present paper has two main aims. First, to assess two components of climate vulnerability regarding the Szekszárd wine region, Hungary; second, to collect and analyze adaptation farming techniques in terms of environmental sustainability aspects. Exposure analyses revealed that the study area will face several challenges regarding intensive drought periods in the future. Sensitivity indicators show the climate-related characteristics of the most popular grapevines and their relatively high level of susceptibility regarding changing climatic patterns. Since both external and intrinsic factors of vulnerability show deteriorating trends, the development of adaptation actions is needed. Adaptation interventions often provide unsustainable solutions or entail maladaptation issues, therefore, an environmental-focused sustainability assessment of collected interventions was performed to avoid long-term negative path dependencies. The applied evaluation methodology pointed out that nature-based adaptation actions are preferred in comparison to using additional machines or resource-intensive solutions. This study can fill the scientific gap by analyzing this wine region for the first time, via performing an ex-ante lock-in analysis of available and widely used adaptation interventions in the viticulture sector.

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Sustainability Assessment of Modern High-Rise Timber Buildings

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13168719 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 8719

Author(s):

Laura Tupenaite ◽

Viktorija Zilenaite ◽

Loreta Kanapeckiene ◽

Tomas Gecys ◽

Ineta Geipele

Keyword(s):

Environmental Economic ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Social Research ◽

Sustainability Indicators ◽

Assessment Methods ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Assessment Framework ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

High Rise

As woodworking and construction technologies improve, the construction of multi-storey timber buildings is gaining popularity worldwide. There is a need to look at the design of existing buildings and assess their sustainability. The aim of the present study is to assess the sustainability of modern high-rise timber buildings using multi-criteria assessment methods. The paper presents a hierarchical system of sustainability indicators and an assessment framework, developed by the authors. Based on this framework, the tallest timber buildings in different countries, i.e., Mjøstårnet in Norway, Brock Commons in Canada, Treet in Norway, Forte in Australia, Strandparken in Sweden and Stadthaus in UK, were compared across the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic/technological, and social). Research has revealed that none of the buildings is leading in all dimensions of sustainability. However, each building is unique and has its own strengths. Overall multi-criteria assessment of the buildings revealed that the Brock Commons building in Canada has received the highest rank in all dimensions of sustainability. The paper contributes to the theory and practice of sustainability assessment and extends the knowledge about high-rise timber buildings. The proposed sustainability assessment framework can be used by both academics and practitioners for assessment of high-rise timber buildings.

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