Sustainability Assessment

Sustainability is a critical determinant of scale and impact of health sector development assistance programs. Working with USAID/Nepal implementing partners, we adapted a sustainability assessment framework to help USAID test how an evaluation tool could inform its health portfolio management. The essential first process step was to define the boundaries of the local system being examined. This local system—the unit of analysis of the study—was defined as the health district.We developed a standardized set of assessment tools to measure 53 indicators. Data collection was carried out over 4 weeks by a Nepalese agency. Scaling and combining indicators into six component indices provided a map of progress toward sustainable maternal, child, health, and family planning results for the five districts included in this pilot study, ranked from “no sustainability” to “beginning of sustainability.”We conclude that systematic application of the Sustainability Framework could improve the health sector investment decisions of development agencies. It could also give districts an information base on which to build autonomy and accountability. The ability to form and test hypotheses about the sustainability of outcomes under various funding strategies—made possible by this approach—will be a prerequisite for more efficiently meeting the global health agenda. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Universities can nowadays be regarded as 'small cities' due to their large size, population, and the various complex activities taking place in campuses, which have some serious direct and indirect impacts on the environment. The environmental pollution and degradation caused by universities in form of energy and material consumption via activities and operations in teaching and research, provision of support services and in residential areas could be considerably reduced by an effective choice of organizational and technical measures. Although many environmental protection measures can be seen at some universities, but a more systematic and sustainable approach to reducing the negative impacts of those activities and making the campuses more sustainable, is generally lacking. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework of a more suitable approach to achieving campus sustainability that could remedy the limitations of the current environmental management practices in universities and ensures more sustainability through the integration of three strategies, namely: university Environmental Management System (EMS); public participation and social responsibility; and promoting sustainability in teaching and research.

The fast and uncontrolled emergence of a will to promote sustainable development in the field of building construction generates new require- ments for urban development. Besides technical solutions, project managers or urban planners must take into consideration the overall impact of his project on the local and global environ- ment as well as social trends, economic devel- opment, health and

Developing clean and renewable energy resources ranks as one of the greatest challenges facing mankind in the medium to long term. The issues associated with developing non-fossil energy are intimately connected with economic development and prosperity, quality of life and global stability, and require smart strategies for sustainable development. This study presents a relative sustainability assessment of biodiesel, taking into account its full life cycle with the main goal of comparing alternative feedstocks, either currently used or promising for future use such as microalgae. A set of sustainability metrics relevant for biodiesel is identified using only the data available in the literature and taking into account all the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, societal, and economic. Although this study does not attempt to identify which feedstock or process is the best, its procedural suggestions may be valuable to practitioners and policy makers seeking to identify the best alternatives. The conclusions, however, are limited by the availability and the quality of the data used in the analyses.

The basic concept of today's infrastructure systems for water supply and wastewater treatment dates back more than 100 years. In the paper it is questioned whether the traditional concept, which is characterized by centralized structures, mixing of wastewater streams of various qualities, and open loop design is suitable to fulfill the new requirements in terms of sustainability. The results of an interdisciplinary analysis and assessment performed within the ongoing project AKWA-2100 for two German municipalities as case studies is presented. Using the scenario approach three scenarios are developed with a long-term perspective of 2050 plus to integrate technological, organizational, and institutional innovations into cohe rent alternative urban water systems with improved eco-efficiency. Since water infrastructure systems strongly affect the sustainability of water resources management the scenarios are evaluated with respect to their sustainability using a total of 44 criteria. In an iterative procedure supported by the Analytic Hierarchy Process the criteria were structured and the ind ividual assessments of the AKWA-2100 research team members were integrate into a joint assessment. Preliminary results indicate that infrastructure scenarios with decentralized components, closed loops of water and other materials and specific treatment for different qualities of wastewater prevail with regard to most of the criteria.

Regional sustainability is an important focus for natural resource management. Measuring how social and economic systems are progressing to sustainability is therefore a critical need. But it is dependent upon the development of analytical and methodological tools to measure progress, particularly, we argue, at the regional level. Achieving sustainability at the regional scale is important since it's at this scale where social institutions and ecological functioning are most closely linked. However, our recent study that evaluated the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods at the regional scale found methods developed for the global, national and state scales are not entirely effective at assessing sustainability at this spatial scale. Following on from this critique, we developed and tested a new method for assessing sustainability, which we believe is applicable at the regional scale. The framework, Sustaining Human Carrying Capacity (SHCC), evaluates the sustainability of regional human activities by considering the pressures these activities have on regional ecosystems. SHCC was tested and evaluated at the regional scale, demonstrating its potential to be an effective method for monitoring sustainability. It also has potential to be used to inform the community and decision makers about the sustainability of their region, and help guide strategic planning to progress sustainability.

Las Evaluaciones de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) surgen en
Estados Unidos por medio de la Ley de Política Pública
Ambiental Nacional (NEPA) en 1970 como un método para
integrar una «racionalidad ambiental» a la política pública y
los procesos burocráticos realizando una evaluación holística
y multidisciplinaria que examina las consecuencias de
acciones de desarrollo previo al mismo. En otras palabras,
la EIA es un componente de un buen gobierno dirigido a
garantizar la protección ambiental, que a su vez incide en
el bienestar y desarrollo de nuestra sociedad. Mediante un
análisis descriptivo, el presente trabajo analizó veintitrés (23)
Declaraciones de Impacto Ambiental realizadas en Puerto Rico
entre los años 2005-2013. Los documentos se examinaron
según las leyes y reglamentos vigentes a nivel local, así como
en la literatura internacional sobre el tema de evaluaciones
ambientales. El análisis demostró algunas incongruencias
entre lo planteado en la literatura y política pública para el buen
gobierno ambiental. Entre estas: la preparación inadecuada de
las EIA; un dominio de lenguaje técnico; la exclusión de factores
de biodiversidad; la minimización mediante lenguaje de los
impactos; descripción muy pobre del medioambiente; análisis
incompleto de los impactos ambientales; metodología clara
ambigua; y una justificación economicista que no considera
realmente los costos y beneficios ambientales de los proyectos
y sus alternativas. [Palabras clave: evaluación de impacto
ambiental, declaración de impacto ambiental (DIA), política
pública ambiental, buen gobierno].

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) arises in United States through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1970 as a method for integrate an "environmental rationality" into public policy and
bureaucratic processes conducting a holistic evaluation and multidisciplinary that examines the consequences of development actions prior to it. In other words, the EIA is a component of a good government aimed at guarantee environmental protection, which in turn affects the welfare and development of our society. Through a
descriptive analysis, the present work analyzed twenty-three (23)
Environmental Impact Statements made in Puerto Rico
between the years 2005-2013. The documents were examined
according to the laws and regulations in force at the local level, as well as  in the international literature on the subject of evaluations
environmental. The analysis showed some inconsistencies
between what was raised in literature and public policy for good
environmental government Among these: inadequate preparation of
the EIAs; a technical language domain; the exclusion of factors
of biodiversity; the minimization through language of
impacts; very poor description of the environment; analysis
incomplete environmental impacts; clear methodology
ambiguous and an economic justification that does not consider
really the environmental costs and benefits of the projects
and its alternatives. [Keywords: environmental impact assessment
(EIA), environmental impact statement (EIS), environmental policy, good governance].

Sustainability indicators based on local data provide a practical method to monitor progress towards sustainable development. However, since there are many conflicting frameworks proposed to develop indicators, it is unclear how best to collect these data. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the literature on developing and applying sustainability indicators at local scales to develop a methodological framework that summarises best practice. First, two ideological paradigms are outlined: one that is expert-led and top-down, and one that is community-based and bottom-up. Second, the paper assesses the methodological steps proposed in each paradigm to identify, select and measure indicators. Finally, the paper concludes by proposing a learning process that integrates best practice for stakeholder-led local sustainability assessments. By integrating approaches from different paradigms, the proposed process offers a holistic approach for measuring progress towards sustainable development. It emphasizes the importance of participatory approaches setting the context for sustainability assessment at local scales, but stresses the role of expert-led methods in indicator evaluation and dissemination. Research findings from around the world are used to show how the proposed process can be used to develop quantitative and qualitative indicators that are both scientifically rigorous and objective while remaining easy to collect and interpret for communities.

Conventional guidance on the design and management of urban roads and streets has tended to focus on either arterial roads or local access streets. There is currently a lack of a clear, consistent approach to the design of arterial streets, which combine both
significant through traffic and urban place functions. This report aims to address this gap, by setting out an approach to the design and management of arterial streets - from a people-oriented perspective.

This report summarises key results of the INCA project. INCA delivered an integrated system of ecosystem accounts for the EU. The report provides an introduction to ecosystem accounting and presents ecosystem extent accounts, initial ecosystem condition accounts and ecosystem services accounts for EU28, before the withdrawal of the UK. The report shows practical examples of possible uses of ecosystem services accounts and existing policy applications. The report is intended for a broad audience — policy makers, researchers, compilers of ecosystem accounts and other expert and non-expert users who wish to learn how ecosystems and their services support our society, what changes in ecosystems and ecosystem services took place in the EU in the past couple of decades and how all this can be measured in a standardised and comparable way.

Awareness and significance of sustainable development (SD) has been growing around the world for the last few decades. Sustainable construction is now considered a way for the construction industry to contribute to this larger effort. It is clear why the construction industry must respond accordingly and focus its attention on developing more sustainable buildings - not least because of its huge size, the vast amount of resources it consumes and its major impact on the built and natural environments. This research work therefore aims to examine the concept of sustainability, investigate the costs related to producing sustainable buildings and the relationship that exists between these costs. A review of the literature showed that the concept of sustainability is broad but the economic, social and environmental aspects, which are inextricably linked, remain the three fundamental pillars of sustainability. Initial construction cost (IC), cost-in-use (CIU) and carbon cost (CC) were rev...

Technology assessment has changed in nature over the last four decades from an analytical tool for technology evaluation, which depends heavily on quantitative and qualitative modelling methodologies, into a strategic planning tool for policy making concerning acceptable new technologies, which depends on participative policy problem analysis. The goal of technology assessment today is to generate policy options for solutions of organizational and societal problems, which, at the operational level, utilize new technologies that are publicly acceptable, that is, viable policy options. This study focuses on the development of a framework that incorporates a technology assessment approach, namely, system dynamics, within the broader scope of technology development for sustainability. The framework, termed system approach to technology sustainability assessment (SATSA), integrates three key elements: technology development, sustainable development, and dynamic systems approach. The article then demonstrates the framework of incorporating the system dynamics methodology in energy technology assessment theory and practice within the context of sustainable development. The framework provides for technology sustainability assessment, which, in turn, can guide the promotion of sustainable energy technologies at a policy level. In addition, it can assist technology developers in understanding the potential impacts of a technology, hence enabling them to reduce technology transfer risks.

Within the recent debate about the needs for improving Ecological Footprint (EF) method, Kitzes and colleagues highlighted the necessity of standardised and detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies to support the calculation of specific impacts accounted in EF. As EF has been identified as a useful method for the evaluation of sustainability of tourism activities, this article presents a comparative study about sustainability evaluation of tourism activities, including LCA of a holiday and a hotel structure. The methodology for a joint use of the two methods was expected to provide more robust and detailed sustainability assessment as LCA is more comprehensive in terms of coverage of impact categories but disregard the carrying capacity of the system/limit of resource assessed by EF. The methodology was applied to two case studies in Northern Italy. The case studies showed that there is a correlation between the results of the two assessments, due to the relevance of energy and fossil fuel consumption as main drivers of impact.

The circular economy as a new model for organizing economic activities is a concept that has gained a lot of momentum in recent years. As a result, interest from different sectors has increased leading to many different initiatives to implement it that will need to be assessed in the future to evaluate its success. Tools to perform such evaluations of circularity initiatives need to be developing fast to be available in time. This report explores how a company involved in a circular economy initiative assesses and reports circularity compared to a company that has not yet joined any circular economy endeavor. This was achieved by conducting a content analysis of their sustainability reports under a particular analytical framework created for such purpose. Results from one analysis showed that the sustainability report of the company involved in the circular economy had evidence of a better understanding of circularity, while the results of the second analysis showed the contrary, that this specific company did not exhibit a better use of circular indicators than the other company. These results suggest that the tools used today by companies to report environmental sustainability might not be adequate to assess and report circularity efforts within them.

The present paper analyzes the suitability of weak and strong sustainability assessment in the context of fisheries management. This topic is a mainstream issue in the field of ecological economics, but its application to fisheries is rather unexplored, even though fisheries have been the focus of many pioneering studies related to natural resource management. An overview of the current debate in the topic together with an application of a multi-disciplinary technique designed to assess fisheries sustainability (Rapfish) allows the closing of this gap. This is achieved by looking to the potential trade-offs among the multiple dimensions of fisheries sustainability and by analyzing the role of critical thresholds in such an assessment. The study of the Basque trawl fisheries operating in the North East Atlantic in the period 1996-2005 shows that the utility of weak sustainability is limited to the comparison of sustainability between fisheries. In contrast it is found that it is the strong sustainability concept together with the definition of critical thresholds that provides management with the tools for improved management and policy within a fishery.

In chemical and allied industries, process design sustainability has gained public concern in academia, industry, government agencies, and social groups. Over the past decade, a variety of sustainability indicators have been introduced, but with various challenges in application. It becomes clear that the industries need urgently practical tools for conducting systematic sustainability assessment on existing processes and/or new designs and, further, for helping derive the most desirable design decisions. This paper presents a systematic, general approach for sustainability assessment and design selection through integrating hard (quantitative) economic and environmental indicators along with soft (qualitative) indicators for social criteria into design activities. The approach contains four modules: a process simulator module, an equipment and inventory acquisition module, a sustainability assessment module, and a decision support module. The modules fully utilize and extend the capabilities of the process simulator Aspen Plus, Aspen Simulation Workbook, and a spreadsheet, where case model development, data acquisition and analysis, team contribution assessment, and decision support are effectively integrated. The efficacy of the introduced approach is illustrated by the example of biodiesel process design, where insightful sustainability analysis and persuasive decision support show its superiority over commonly practiced technoeconomy evaluation approaches.

The aim of this paper is to provide a categorisation of sustainability assessment tools within the broader objective of lifting the understanding of sustainability assessment from the environmental-focused realm to a wider interpretation of sustainability. The suggested framework is based on three main categories: indicators/indices, product-related assessment, and integrated assessment tools. There is furthermore the overarching category of monetary valuation tools that can be used as a part of many of the tools listed in the three categories. The tools are also divided by their spatial focus and the level of nature–society system integration. Discussion focuses on if and how the tools fulfil the objectives from the more current understanding of sustainability assessment.

Sustainable sewerage infrastructure projects are essential in achieving sustainable development, as infrastructure directly affects all measures of such development. However, sewerage infrastructures face a variety of challenges and threats to their sustained performance throughout their life cycle, including effects of aging, aggressive environmental factors, inadequate design, underfunding, improper operation, and maintenance activities. These challenges lead to the enhancement of the risks of failure, for example, sewer leakage, overflow, and odor. These issues can have serious impacts on the environment, public health and safety, the economy, and the service lives of assets. Only a few research has focused on assessing sustainability at the project level, and to the best of researchers' knowledge, no study has assessed sewerage throughout its project life cycle. In response to this issue, this study proposes a sustainability assessment framework that focuses on all aspects of sustainability throughout the project life cycle. Furthermore, this framework supports the decision-making process throughout the life cycle of assets, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the projects and providing greater transparency for the stakeholders.

Neighbourhoods are increasingly gaining attention as planning units of great potential for contribution to sustainable development. Many assessment tools such as LEED-ND, BREEAM Communities and CASBEE-UD have been developed to examine the sustainability of neighbourhood development projects. Some of these tools are claimed to be suitable for assessment in different contexts, and LEED-ND has already been utilised in various countries. This study investigates the viability of using global standards through a series of comparative case studies. One certified case from each of the aforementioned tools is chosen and evaluated against its non-corresponding assessment tools. Selected cases are, respectively, Hoyt Yards, MediaCityUK and Koshigaya Lake Town. Results of this study provide evidence that casts doubt on the viability of using global standards. The paper concludes that neighbourhood sustainability assessment should be regarded as a pluralistic practice. This implies that any realistic and reliable assessment should take account of the specificities of specific locations and varying needs of different stakeholders.

Universities can nowadays be regarded as 'small cities' due to their large size, population, and the various complex activities taking place in campuses, which have some serious direct and indirect impacts on the environment. The environmental pollution and degradation caused by universities in form of energy and material consumption via activities and operations in teaching and research, provision of support services and in residential areas could be considerably reduced by an effective choice of organizational and technical measures. Although many environmental protection measures can be seen at some universities, but a more systematic and sustainable approach to reducing the negative impacts of those activities and making the campuses more sustainable, is generally lacking. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework of a more suitable approach to achieving campus sustainability that could remedy the limitations of the current environmental management practices in universities and ensures more sustainability through the integration of three strategies, namely: university Environmental Management System (EMS); public participation and social responsibility; and promoting sustainability in teaching and research.

Climate changes, overpopulation, resources overuse and ecological catastrophes require companies to embrace a circular economy and improve existing circular business models (CBMs). Due to their novelty, CBMs have been critiqued concerning their sustainability input at the company level. This paper contributes to the conference theme and session by assessing existing CBMs' sustainability using alternative sustainability assessment approach service design (SD) in three areas: innovation, which is crucial for sustainable business development enabling greater sustainability of CBMs; sustainable customer experiences on a human level allowing progressive organisational sustainability, and transparency in companies' internal and external processes indicating high sustainability processes area. A pilot study assessed 16 Finnish companies with four CBMs in seven industries to answer how sustainable are CBMs across different industries when adopting SD as a sustainability assessment approach? The author completed an assessment at the university SD educational process for professionals. It consisted of CBMs analysis adopting various design tools and a redesign conducted at the virtual workshop. Results revealed high sustainability performance in groundbreaking technological innovation (n=8) reinforced with innovative CBM (n=6) and limited sustainability performance in all other areas: limited customeroriented services and poor user experiences (n=2), unfamiliarity with customer needs (n=9), haziness in the service life cycle (n=6), supply chain (n=4), value chain (n=5), and waste management (n=6). Therefore the short answer to RQ would be that pertinent CBMs are sustainable partly. Finally, the study demonstrates promising results when adopting SD as a sustainability assessment approach; however, the author recommends using other established procedures.

This report outlines the ecosystem accounting applications that have been presented in the Ecosystem
Services World Conference in Hannover, Germany in 2019. Eight cases are summarized here; applications of
ecosystem accounts in Europe, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Uganda, Bulgaria, Andalusia-Spain and
Oslo-Norway. Most of these applications are in line with the System of Integrated Environmental and
Economic Accounts (SEEA) framework and the outcomes are regarded as pilot attempts concluding in
interesting messages that should be accounted for in next development steps. All cases discuss the
compilation process of certain type of ecosystem asset or ecosystem services accounts either at regional,
national or local level depicting the methodological process as well as the main outcomes. They also report
the policy priorities that these accounts attempted to address and the policy implications that may follow
given the accounts’ results. Some of the strong highlights emerged from these cases are summarized as
follows: countries should initiate the development of accounts using currently available data and then evolve
this attempt based on pilot accounts. It is imperative that collaboration between institutes is ensured as
ecosystem accounting is a complex process that demands strong joint forces between different experts as
well as stakeholders. Demand for ecosystem accounts should be systematically developed if ecosystem
accounting is to be institutionalized. Accounts need to demonstrate clear messages and be linked to certain
policy needs even in this primary stage to foster policy support.

This paper proposes a new approach to measure corporate contributions to sustainability called Sustainable Value Added. Value is created whenever benefits exceed costs. Current approaches to measure corporate sustainable performance take into account external costs caused by environmental and social damage or focus on the ratio between value creation and resource consumption. As this paper will show it is more promising to develop sustainable measures based on opportunity costs. Sustainable Value Added is such a measure. It shows how much more value is created because a company is more efficient than a benchmark and because the resources are allocated to the company and not to benchmark companies. The concept of strong sustainability requires that each form of capital is kept constant. As Sustainable Value Added is inspired by strong sustainability, it measures whether a company creates extra value while ensuring that every environmental and social impact is in total constant. Therefore, it takes into account both, corporate eco-and social efficiency as well as the absolute level of environmental and social resource consumption (eco-and social effectiveness). As a result, Sustainable Value Added considers simultaneously economic, environmental and social aspects. The overall result can be expressed in any of the three dimensions of sustainability. D

Organizations continue to seek innovative ideas for improving their processes and retaining a competitive edge. For achieving this purpose the managers try to contribute various methods and techniques for reducing the cost of products. One of the most effective methods of cost reduction of fixed assets is Life Cycle Costing technique. Life Cycle Costing is a process to determine the sum of all the costs associated with an asset or part thereof, including acquisition, installation, operation, maintenance, refurbishment and disposal costs. It is pivotal to the asset management process as an input to the evaluation of alternatives via Economic Appraisal, Financial Appraisal, Value Management, Risk Management and Demand Analysis. Life cycle Cost Analysis enables the organizations in creation, operation and disposal costs of a selected alternative to be monitored throughout its life to enable accurate and timely decision-making as to how these costs can be minimized. This paper relies on investigation process and tries to explain the role of effective life cycle costing in reducing the fixed costs of company’s final products and empower the organizations to face with competitors in the business world.

Urban sustainability assessment tools are increasingly used to inform planning and policymaking in cities. Despite being diverse in their scale, scope, and clientele, their common goal is dealing with challenges related to global change and sustainability. In the meantime, it is increasingly recognized that utilizing smart solutions, enabled by advances in information and communication technologies, is critical for accelerating progress on achieving sustainability. It is, therefore, essential to integrate smart city principles into urban sustainability assessment tools. Accordingly, the main question that we aim to address in this chapter is whether sustainability assessment tools cover smart city indicators. To answer this question, we first extract a list of smart city indicators from a wide range of existing tools for assessing city smartness. Next, we examine seven globally well-known sustainability assessment tools to find out the level of correspondence between their indicators and those extracted from smart city assessment tools. The examined urban sustainability assessment tools belong to the BREEAM, LEED, and CASBEE family and are used for performance assessment at the neighborhood and/or city scales. Results show that, overall, there is a lack of correspondence between smart city and urban sustainability assessment tools. In particular, there is a glaring lack of coverage of smartness indicators related to the economy, governance, and quality of life dimensions. Some promising results were, however, found regarding the inclusion of smartness indicators related to the environment and mobility dimensions. Results show that the recently developed LEED for cities and communities tools have made good efforts to include smartness indicators related to these two dimensions. This chapter concludes by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the selected tools and making some recommendations for future research.

Indigenous peoples now engage with many decentralized approaches to environmental management that offer opportunities for integration of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) and western science to promote cultural diversity in the management of social-ecological system sustainability. Nevertheless, processes of combining IEK with western science are diverse and affected by numerous factors, including the adaptive co-management context, the intrinsic characteristics of the natural resources, and the governance systems. We present a typology of Indigenous engagement in environmental management, derived through comparative analysis of 21 Australian case studies, and consider its implications for the integration of IEK with western science. Sociological and rational choice institutionalism underpin our analytical framework, which differentiates on three axes: (1) power sharing, incorporating decision making, rules definition, resource values and property rights; (2) participation, incorporating participatory processes, organizations engaged, and coordination approaches; (3) intercultural purpose, incorporating purposes of environmental management, Indigenous engagement, Indigenous development and capacity building. Our typology groups engagement into four types: Indigenous governed collaborations; Indigenous-driven cogovernance; agency-driven co-governance; and agency governance. From our analysis of manifestations of knowledge integration across the types, we argue that Indigenous governance and Indigenous-driven co-governance provides better prospects for integration of IEK and western science for sustainability of social-ecological systems. Supporting Indigenous governance without, or with only a limited requirement for power sharing with other agencies sustains the distinct Indigenous cultural purposes underpinning IEK, and benefits knowledge integration. We conclude by advocating that the typology be applied to test its general effectiveness in guiding practitioners and researchers to develop robust governance for Indigenous knowledge integration in environmental management.

In a context of growing complexity of supply chains and pressure from multiple stakeholders for more transparency, there is a trend in research and practice towards building methods for supply chain sustainability assessment. This trend represents a core issue in research but rarely takes a multiple stake-holder perspective. Based on a literature review, a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of sustainability reports, a survey, and interviews with various stakeholders, this paper suggests a set of sustainability aspects to exchange data to support the sustainability assessment of supply chains. The focus is set on the interrelated automotive and electronics industries which are representative sectors of this growing need for transparency and assessment and reflect the complexity of the issue. The outcome and main differences between companies and other stakeholders (e.g., Non-Governmental Organisations , researchers) is highlighted as well as the overall result of this work: a suggestion for 36 sustainability aspects to exchange sustainability data along the supply chain. By integrating empirical information, this paper emphasises the need to define precisely which sustainability aspects can be found in the different dimensions of sustainability and shows the importance of the governance dimension in sustainability research. It also aims at encouraging a standardised data exchange by taking into account company demographics and data exchange accessibility to allow comparability between companies and supply chains and support decision-makers. The results are meant for companies to improve and monitor the sustainability performance of their organisation and supply chain, improve communication through corporate sustainability reports, and provide more transparent information to customers and final consumers. The results also aim at supporting researchers in the field in developing indicators for a supply chain-wide sustainability assessment.

There has been a surge of interest over the past several years in the development and implementation of tools, frameworks, and indicator sets (hereafter, ‘schemes’) for smart city assessment. Despite this, there has been little examination of the typology and structure of assessment schemes. This gap has been partially addressed in a recent study by Sharifi (2019) that examines strengths and weaknesses of selected assessment schemes in terms of issues such as coverage of different smartness dimensions, stakeholder engagement, context sensitivity, strategic alignment, uncertainty management, interlinkages and interoperability, temporal dynamism, flexibility, feasibility, presentation and communication of the results, and action plans. To build on and complement that study, this paper examines thirty-four schemes to contribute to a better understanding of their typology. It provides general information related to characteristics such as geographic focus, scale of analysis, target audience, and the method of development. In addition, it identifies format, thematic focus areas, and persistent indicators across the schemes and provides detailed information on the major methods and approaches used for assessing city smartness. Results show that diverse approaches have been taken, but there are also some commonalities. Index is the dominant format across the schemes and the most common themes are: economy, people, governance, environment, mobility, living, and data. This typology study can be used for multiple purposes; it can serve as a frame of reference for those aiming at evaluating performance of smart cities using appropriate schemes, can be used as a basis for conducting further critical analyses of assessment schemes, and may also guide the development of better-informed schemes in the future.

The Mediterranean Diet is characterized by a nutritional model that remained constant over time and space, consisting mainly of olive oil, cereals, fresh or dried fruit and vegetables, a moderate amount of fish, dairy and meat, and many condiments and spices. However, the Mediterranean Diet is more than just food, because its adoption brings about multidimensional benefits regarding the four dimensions of sustainability (environment, economy, society and culture, nutrition-health). Hence, IFMeD and CIHEAM Bari, in collaboration with FAO and Forum on Mediterranean Food Cultures, developed a new framework called “Med Diet 4.0”, in which the four dimensions are incorporated to assess the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet. Currently, there are several challenges for the further development of the “Med Diet 4.0” model, such as understanding the interdependences and importance of the four sustainability dimensions, selecting and prioritizing a set of sustainability indicators, calculating a sustainability score using the data gathered for each indicator, and choosing the scale for testing the model. Taking into consideration the abovementioned challenges, this research aims to assess the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet by implementing the “Med Diet 4.0” model through a participatory Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) framework. This framework has been tested using a set of 56 sustainability indicators in a pilot project entitled “The Apulian Lifestyle for a happy long life”, which took into consideration also the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet in other 9 regions of Southern Italy. The MCDA framework enabled to assess the overall sustainability score of the Mediterranean Diet and the score related to each dimension in all the regions of Southern Italy. Furthermore, this framework made it possible to delineate the sustainability profile of Apulia region according to the different indicators and to each dimension. By analyzing this profile, brief recommendations of intervention were formulated to support the government of Apulia region in improving the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet at the regional level.

Neighborhood sustainability assessment tools have become widespread since the turn of 21st century and many communities, mainly in the developed world, are utilizing these tools to measure their success in approaching sustainable development goals. In this study, seven tools from Australia, Europe, Japan, and the United States are selected and analyzed with the aim of providing insights into the current situations; highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures; and making recommendations for future improvements. Using a content analysis, the issues of sustainability coverage, pre-requisites, local adaptability, scoring and weighting, participation, reporting, and applicability are discussed in this paper. The results of this study indicate that most of the tools are not doing well regarding the coverage of social, economic, and institutional aspects of sustainability; there are ambiguities and shortcomings in the weighting, scoring, and rating; in most cases, there is no mechanism for local adaptability and participation; and, only those tools which are embedded within the broader planning framework are doing well with regard to applicability.

Neighborhoods play a major role in helping to achieve global sustainability. Within the past decade, numerous assessment tools worldwide have been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the increasing number of neighborhood (re)development plans. This is an indication of the growing recognition among planners and decision-makers of the significant role that neighborhoods play in planning for sustainable development. Sustainability assessment of the built environment was initially focused on the building level. However, research and development of neighborhood sustainability assessment tools is nascent. Scaling up the sustainability assessment to the neighborhood level enables planners and decisionmakers to account for the impacts associated with the spaces between the single buildings and humans and other living organisms that use those spaces for living, working, and other purposes. It furthermore facilitates the consideration of synergies between the broad range of urban elements and activities. Neighborhood is a minimum scale at which social aspects and issues related to the economy of scale can be taken into account.

"As the building blocks of cities, neighborhoods play a major role in helping to achieve global sustainability. In the past decade, several assessment tools worldwide have been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the increasing number of neighborhood (re)development plans. While there is a plethora of research investigating various aspects of building assessment tools, until now little studies have looked at the empirical aspects of neighborhood sustainability assessment. To address this lacuna in literature, this study explores the uptake of sustainability criteria in projects certified under neighborhood sustainability assessment tools. In addition, it examines three cases from the US, the UK, and Japan that have been highly ranked under LEED-ND, BREEAM Communities, and CASBEE-UD, respectively. This is done through investigating compliance of each case with the principles of sustainable development. Furthermore, a series of comparative case studies are undertaken to evaluate each case using assessment tools other than the ones that have, in reality, been used for certifying the selected developments. In addition to highlighting strengths and weaknesses of each development, results show that social, economic, and institutional aspects are not adequately accounted for in theory and practice. Practice of neighborhood sustainability assessment is, to a large extent, market-driven and characterized by the dominance of the environmental aspects of sustainability. Also, results indicate that assessment tools can co-evolve through learning from their successes and failures. Results of this study can be used for optimizing the assessment tools.
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The continued growth of urban population in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa has brought along with it, a myriad of challenges. Exacerbated by high birth rate and a continued increase in the level of rural-urban migration, the economic, infrastructural, and social conditions in these urban centres have been incapable of providing a good standard of living for its inhabitants. With a population of about 188 million and a HDI of 152 in 188 ranked countries, urban centres in Nigeria are plagued with poor security, epileptic power and water supply, poor sanitation, health challenges, high cost of construction amongst other challenges (NPC, 2017). This qualitative study expands on current knowledge with regards to the current challenges facing Nigeria's urban environment with focus on Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria as a primary case. This paper also analyses some of these long standing challenges, their interrelatedness and how they exacerbate the inability of the Nigerian government to solving them. Furthermore, the conclusion lays a response to these challenges with recommendation on the process of unravelling the complex conglomerate issues.

Tanzania is among of the countries participated in different United Nations conferences and summits. The recent conference is the 2012 Rio+20 Summit. In this Summit, together with other countries, Tanzania was obliged to formulate and implement its own National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSSDs) as a key instrument for guiding decision-making and integration of sustainability goals into all levels of decision-making. This paper reviews the process of adopting the NSSD in Tanzania and the extent to which the strategy contributes to sustainable development.
It is found that the process of adopting NSSD started early in 1990s. The process was closely and directly connected to the process of preparing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. The current National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) is regarded as a NSSD. This strategy is a short to medium term policy implemented after every five years. However, sustainable development requires long-term planning, holistic, strategic approach, and on-going process. As such, in post 2015 development planning, a new NSSD separate from the current NSGRP is required. The NSSD can promote sustainability unlike NSGRP which is designed as a short to medium term strategy focusing on poverty alleviation. The NSSD should be designed as a long-term strategic document which goes beyond reducing poverty and fully addresses the issues of sustainable development.
Therefore, it is recommended that NSSD should be developed depending on the understanding of the concept of sustainable development and Tanzanian’s developmental context. The NSSD should also been developed upon the harmonised sectoral policies and plans that are operating in the country. It should also been developed within the five pillars of sustainability, and coordinated with the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) of the United Nations. Impact assessment legislation should facilitate the assessment of sustainability goals and integration process. As such, impact assessment legislation and policies should also been harmonised and link with NSSD.