Assessing Cities
(c) Erol Ahmed
Project team: Prof. Claudia R. Binder, Albert Merino-Saum, Anne Bösch, Pekka Jaakko Halla, Melissa Pang, Valeria Superti
As hubs of social, scientific and economic activities, cities possess the potential for facilitating transitions towards sustainable ways of living. The purpose of sustainability assessment is to contribute to harnessing this potential by guiding decision-makers and other stakeholders in their steps towards sustainability. While a large number of approaches, methods and indicators already exist for sustainability assessment, a number of theoretical and practical shortcomings persist.
We aim to address these shortcomings in three areas of research. First, through surveys of existing sustainability indicator initiatives, we investigate ways to categorise and interpret indicators for urban systems. Second, through case studies of the use of sustainability assessment and indicators, we aim to understand their real-world impacts in policy- and decision-making processes, and to identify means for strengthening these impacts. Third, we carry out conceptual work in order to create interpretative frames that facilitate discussions of the unavoidable ethical and value-related issues involved in sustainability assessment.
I am contributing to this research with my doctoral project –Characterizing and incorporating intra-city spatial heterogeneity into urban sustainability assessments–.
I am contributing to this research with my doctoral project –Analysis of the normative and procedural dimensions of sustainability assessment as an element of transition towards sustainability–.
I contributed to this research with my doctoral project –Improving the transformative capacity of urban sustainability assessment–.
I contributed to this research with my doctoral project –Assessing the impact of circular economy on urban systems’ sustainability–.