Certifications systems as independent and rigorous tools for assessing urban sustainability

ABSTRACT

Urban sustainability certification (USC) systems are witnessing a wide dissemination and some are used as globally relevant tools. In addition, USCs are being marketed as independent tools capable of assessing sustainability not only comprehensively but also using rigorous measures. The comprehensiveness and rigour of their assessment rest on a combination of simple criteria (directly prescribing indicators with quantitative/qualitative measures) and nested ones (hosting other references for sustainable planning (RsSP)) prescribed within each USC. However, such scope seems over-ambitious due to the complexity of urban sustainability and its contextual sensitivity. Accordingly, this study aims to delve in USCs and examine their rigour and independence. The study begins by analyzing the concepts of street connectivity and compactness in LEED-ND (the most rigorous USC) because both are prominent concepts and have a number of earmarked criteria with simple structure. Then, criteria with nested structure and their RsSP found in four USCs are collected and analyzed in terms of frequencies, weights, and geographic domains. This analysis aims to uncover how dependent USCs are on other RsSP and how compatible are the geographic domains of both. The results refute the rigour of LEED-ND's assessment in terms of compactness and connectivity because the prescribed measures are insufficient to assess the different variables of both concepts. Moreover, USCs are highly dependent on local RsSP (only relevant to USC's country of origin), which disagrees with their characterization as independent or international tools.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability assessment
• certification systems
• LEED for neighborhood development
• BREEAM communities
• CASBEE for urban development
• pearl community rating system

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Amr Ah. Gouda http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3769-2384

Notes

1. An abbreviation that will be used henceforward for brevity.

2. Based on the assumption of four persons per household.

3. Excluding the 10 bonus points.