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SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT AND THE MANAGEMENT OF URBAN

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Due to rapid urbanisation, more than 50% of the world's population currently live in cities (UN 2014; Prasad et al. 2016) and by the year 2050, that figure is projected to increase to about 70% (Komeily and Srinivasan 2015) as illustrated in Figure 1.1. Cities are engines of economic prosperity and social development (Mourshed et al. 2016), and are responsible for the depletion of natural resources, energy and agricultural land, as well as contributes to more than 70% of total global CO2 emissions (FAO 2011). The bulk of the present increases in demand for environmental and social services, energy and economic support originate in developing economies, particularly China, India and the Middle East (IMF 2016), coinciding with growing urbanisation rates and population density. Urbanisation rates across the globe are uneven; it is higher in developing countries (Kadhim et al. 2016). Urban population in developing countries is projected to rise from 46% in 2010 to about 65% in 2050 (UN 2014). There is, therefore, an urgent need to adopt efficient solutions, for new and existing urban areas, that will mitigate environmental, social, and economic impacts, and achieve a balance between diverse dimensions of sustainability. Urban sustainability assessment has been suggested as critical to achieving sustainability (Sharifi and Murayama 2015). The concept of sustainable development emerged from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth Summit (Drexhage and Murphy 2010) held in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. Since then, there has been widespread agreement on the importance of adopting sustainable development, to address urbanisation concerns across different societies (Najam and Cleveland 2003; Bosselmann 2016). This conference also formally acknowledged the concept of sustainable urban development and its application. It can be defined as the capability of urban regions to achieve the quality of life desired by the community without affecting the needs of current and future generations, or producing negative impacts inside and outside said urban region (Wallbaum et al. 2010).

Urbanisation processes, specifically urban planning and design, vary on a global level but several urban indicators are followed globally to distinguish between urban regions. Those indicators are linked in terms of population, density, employment profiles, services availability and quality. Currently, there has been an emphasis on sustainable urban development as a fundamental principle to enhance the quality of human life, to control urbanisation, reduce resource consumption, preserve the ecosystem, reduce pollution and promote the economy (He et al. 2011). There has been increased global attention directed towards urban sustainability for many countries, this was reflected in the development of strict regulations and built environment methods of assessment, promoting sustainability designed to mitigate undesirable impacts. The current research concentrates on different global sustainability assessment methods and the relative weight of categories and indicators which reinforce sustainability standards applicable to the local circumstances of various regions worldwide. The focus will be on proving that well-known sustainability assessment methods are not appropriate for developing countries.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

Urban sustainability is critical for the rapid urbanisation of developing countries, not only to mitigate the impact of climate change but also to enhance the quality of life for their citizens. The environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability are interrelated and dependent on one another. As such, integrated and holistic assessments of sustainability of the built environment have emerged as a new developmental paradigm (Sharifi and Murayama 2015). Decades of research and development have led to the conclusion that global urban sustainability assessment tools are not universally applicable, specifically for developing countries, because of differences in priorities for urban development (Haapio 2012). Because development priorities are different, they need to be identified according to different contexts, before developing a framework for urban sustainability assessment. Previous investigations on urban sustainability assessment (Sharifi and Murayana 2014), specifically in the Middle East (Alyami et al. 2015) have focused on secondary data analysis, mainly literature reviews, to identify relevant factors and indicators. They also relied primarily on the opinions of expert stakeholders, leaving out members of the public, the ultimate beneficiaries of urban projects. While this approach is an improvement to the use of out-of-context global assessment tools, identified indicators and priorities cannot be considered as a comprehensive collection of the views of all stakeholders.