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Benchmarking sustainability in cities : The role of indicators and future scenarios

Boyko, Christopher T. ; Gaterell, Mark R. ; Barber, Austin R.G. ; Brown, Julie ; Bryson, John R. ; Butler, David ; Caputo, Silvio ; Caserio, Maria ; Coles, Richard and Cooper, Rachel , et al. (2012) In Global Environmental Change 22(1). p.245-254
Abstract

Scenarios are a useful tool to help think about and visualise the future and, as such, are utilised by many policymakers and practitioners. Future scenarios have not been used to explore the urban context in much depth, yet have the potential to provide valuable insights into the robustness of decisions being made today in the name of sustainability. As part of a major research project entitled Urban Futures, a toolkit has been developed in the UK to facilitate the use of scenarios in any urban context and at any scale relevant to that context. The toolkit comprises two key components, namely, (i) a series of indicators comprising both generic and topic area-specific indicators (e.g., air quality, biodiversity, density, water) that... (More)

Scenarios are a useful tool to help think about and visualise the future and, as such, are utilised by many policymakers and practitioners. Future scenarios have not been used to explore the urban context in much depth, yet have the potential to provide valuable insights into the robustness of decisions being made today in the name of sustainability. As part of a major research project entitled Urban Futures, a toolkit has been developed in the UK to facilitate the use of scenarios in any urban context and at any scale relevant to that context. The toolkit comprises two key components, namely, (i) a series of indicators comprising both generic and topic area-specific indicators (e.g., air quality, biodiversity, density, water) that measure sustainability performance and (ii) a list of characteristics (i.e., 1-2-sentence statements about a feature, issue or small set of issues) that describe four future scenarios. In combination, these two components enable us to measure the performance of any given sustainability indicator, and establish the relative sensitivity or vulnerability of that indicator to the different future scenarios. An important aspect of the methodology underpinning the toolkit is that it is flexible enough to incorporate new scenarios, characteristics and indicators, thereby allowing the long-term performance of our urban environments to be considered in the broadest possible sense.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Indicators, Regeneration, Scenarios, Sustainability, Toolkit, Urban Futures
in
Global Environmental Change
volume
22
issue
1
pages
10 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:84855998298
ISSN
0959-3780
DOI
10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.10.004
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
82dd8a67-2a1a-4c04-b1f2-09eba35bf406
date added to LUP
2020-11-19 23:27:07
date last changed
2022-04-19 02:29:52
@article{82dd8a67-2a1a-4c04-b1f2-09eba35bf406,
  abstract     = {{<p>Scenarios are a useful tool to help think about and visualise the future and, as such, are utilised by many policymakers and practitioners. Future scenarios have not been used to explore the urban context in much depth, yet have the potential to provide valuable insights into the robustness of decisions being made today in the name of sustainability. As part of a major research project entitled Urban Futures, a toolkit has been developed in the UK to facilitate the use of scenarios in any urban context and at any scale relevant to that context. The toolkit comprises two key components, namely, (i) a series of indicators comprising both generic and topic area-specific indicators (e.g., air quality, biodiversity, density, water) that measure sustainability performance and (ii) a list of characteristics (i.e., 1-2-sentence statements about a feature, issue or small set of issues) that describe four future scenarios. In combination, these two components enable us to measure the performance of any given sustainability indicator, and establish the relative sensitivity or vulnerability of that indicator to the different future scenarios. An important aspect of the methodology underpinning the toolkit is that it is flexible enough to incorporate new scenarios, characteristics and indicators, thereby allowing the long-term performance of our urban environments to be considered in the broadest possible sense.</p>}},
  author       = {{Boyko, Christopher T. and Gaterell, Mark R. and Barber, Austin R.G. and Brown, Julie and Bryson, John R. and Butler, David and Caputo, Silvio and Caserio, Maria and Coles, Richard and Cooper, Rachel and Davies, Gemma and Farmani, Raziyeh and Hale, James and Hales, A. Chantal and Hewitt, C. Nicholas and Hunt, Dexter V.L. and Jankovic, Lubo and Jefferson, Ian and Leach, Joanne M. and Lombardi, D. Rachel and MacKenzie, A. Robert and Memon, Fayyaz A. and Pugh, Thomas A.M. and Sadler, John P. and Weingaertner, Carina and Whyatt, J. Duncan and Rogers, Christopher D.F.}},
  issn         = {{0959-3780}},
  keywords     = {{Indicators; Regeneration; Scenarios; Sustainability; Toolkit; Urban Futures}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{245--254}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Global Environmental Change}},
  title        = {{Benchmarking sustainability in cities : The role of indicators and future scenarios}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.10.004}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.10.004}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}