The concept of sustainability has gained traction within Canadian planning efforts in recent years. As such, there is a need to measure progress toward sustainability goals; it was found that sustainability indicators are the recommended tool to perform such measurement. The literature also articulated the potential for core community sustainability indicators. The concept of transferability was produced to describe the ability of indicators, domains, and scoring processes to be relevant between communities (horizontal transferability) and various levels of governance (vertical transferability). Hence, the objectives of this research were to create a set of community sustainability indicators, domains, and a scoring methodology for use in a Canadian Community Sustainability Indicator Framework. In attempt to achieve these objectives, first a document review of four existing Canadian community sustainability indicator sets and their domains. This review produced a preliminary set of community sustainability indicators and domains, the latter of which were used in the interviews that followed. The document review also introduced a scoring methodology from MMM Group: The Complete Mobility (CM) scoring methodology. Interview communities were chosen from across Canada using criteria to include different geographical areas, community sizes, and economic/population conditions. Interviewees were from academic, government, or non-government organizations. Interviews followed a loose interview guide with the objectives of gaining insight into interviewee perceptions on sustainability indicators, domains, and scoring processes. Specifically they were asked to evaluate the preliminary set of community sustainability indicator domains and CM scoring methodology, both found in the document review. Synthesis of the results from the document review, the interviews, and the literature review found that there are benefits associated with, and a desire for a transferable community sustainability framework within Canada. The preliminary set of community sustainability indicator domains found complete acceptance in the interviews, and three newly proposed domains. The concept of scoring had varied opinions; however, in those interviewees who desired scoring, the CM methodology was well liked. A proposed framework for a CCSIF as well as other potentially emergent concepts and affirmed academic assertions were also presented in this thesis. Further research into many of these concepts, both emergent and not, was proposed.

Sustainability is vital to the success of our cities and settlements. While communities are becoming increasingly conversant with sustainability concepts, uncertainty remains over how to translate these into planning practice. This practicum explores the role of sustainability checklists as one tool for planning and designing more sustainable communities. The inquiry examines the design, implementation and effectiveness of these tools and seeks to understand the motivation and context in which they are developed, the varying approaches and components of checklist tools, and the impact that they are having on planning and development practices. A review of twenty-four sustainability checklists from a selection of BC municipalities, an online survey and key informant interviews were used to inform this study. Nine key findings are identified suggesting that while checklists are helping to communicate sustainability objectives and are encouraging better development, they are not resulting in the large scale shifts to development patterns and urban systems that are required to achieve sustainable outcomes; therefore, checklists need to be integrated with other policies, regulations and tools in order to assist in achieving sustainable settlements.

Sustainability is vital to the success of our cities and settlements. While communities are becoming increasingly conversant with sustainability concepts, uncertainty remains over how to translate these into planning practice. This practicum explores the role of sustainability checklists as one tool for planning and designing more sustainable communities. The inquiry examines the design, implementation and effectiveness of these tools and seeks to understand the motivation and context in which they are developed, the varying approaches and components of checklist tools, and the impact that they are having on planning and development practices. A review of twenty-four sustainability checklists from a selection of BC municipalities, an online survey and key informant interviews were used to inform this study. Nine key findings are identified suggesting that while checklists are helping to communicate sustainability objectives and are encouraging better development, they are not resulting in the large scale shifts to development patterns and urban systems that are required to achieve sustainable outcomes; therefore, checklists need to be integrated with other policies, regulations and tools in order to assist in achieving sustainable settlements.

Increasing evidence of the positive correlation between sustainability performance and financial performance of companies has motivated the proliferation of tools that seek to assess corporate sustainability performance and provide guidance to companies on sustainable business practices and sustainability reporting. Despite the growing number of tools for evaluating, rating and ranking the sustainability performance of companies, the assessment methodologies and frameworks of these tools have not been fully disclosed, leaving both (socially) responsible investors and companies with little publicly available information and understanding of the sustainability issues that are relevant to business practices. This research is an exploratory study seeking to gain greater insight into corporate sustainability assessment as it is practiced within the capital markets. The research specifically examines the extent to which three prominent stock market sustainability indexes, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series and the Jantzi Social Index, represent the sustainability performance of companies. The study involves a comparative analysis of sustainability criteria, and an examination of the extent to which the concept of sustainable development and the theoretical perspectives on sustainability assessment are reflected in the assessment frameworks of the indexes. Furthermore, a secondary question addressed in this study is the extent to which the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Guidelines and the ISO 26000 standard influence the sustainability criteria used in the indexes’ assessment frameworks. The significance of this secondary question is to understand the extent of alignment between tools which provide guidance on sustainable business practices and tools which assess corporate sustainability performance. A significant finding of this research is the lack of standardization amongst the assessment and guidance tools on the core sustainability issues that are relevant to businesses across all industry sectors. While all of the tools generally follow the same model of organizing sustainability criteria according to environmental, social and economic themes, within each of those themes, a wide spectrum of issues are covered, with poor consensus amongst the tools on the core indicators that are relevant to business practices. An additional finding is that while the theoretical perspectives on sustainable development and sustainability assessment are evident in the indexes, there is significant margin for improvement in terms of developing indicators which are future-oriented and focus on a long-term perspective, as well as incorporating the notion of context in performance metrics.

The concept of sustainability has gained traction within Canadian planning efforts in recent years. As such, there is a need to measure progress toward sustainability goals; it was found that sustainability indicators are the recommended tool to perform such measurement. The literature also articulated the potential for core community sustainability indicators. The concept of transferability was produced to describe the ability of indicators, domains, and scoring processes to be relevant between communities (horizontal transferability) and various levels of governance (vertical transferability). Hence, the objectives of this research were to create a set of community sustainability indicators, domains, and a scoring methodology for use in a Canadian Community Sustainability Indicator Framework. In attempt to achieve these objectives, first a document review of four existing Canadian community sustainability indicator sets and their domains. This review produced a preliminary set of community sustainability indicators and domains, the latter of which were used in the interviews that followed. The document review also introduced a scoring methodology from MMM Group: The Complete Mobility (CM) scoring methodology. Interview communities were chosen from across Canada using criteria to include different geographical areas, community sizes, and economic/population conditions. Interviewees were from academic, government, or non-government organizations. Interviews followed a loose interview guide with the objectives of gaining insight into interviewee perceptions on sustainability indicators, domains, and scoring processes. Specifically they were asked to evaluate the preliminary set of community sustainability indicator domains and CM scoring methodology, both found in the document review. Synthesis of the results from the document review, the interviews, and the literature review found that there are benefits associated with, and a desire for a transferable community sustainability framework within Canada. The preliminary set of community sustainability indicator domains found complete acceptance in the interviews, and three newly proposed domains. The concept of scoring had varied opinions; however, in those interviewees who desired scoring, the CM methodology was well liked. A proposed framework for a CCSIF as well as other potentially emergent concepts and affirmed academic assertions were also presented in this thesis. Further research into many of these concepts, both emergent and not, was proposed.

abstract: The sustainability impacts of the extension of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in suburban Beijing are explored. The research focuses on the neighborhood level, assessing sustainability impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and energy consumption. By emphasizing suburban neighborhoods, the research targets the longest commuting trips, which have the most potential to generate significant sustainability benefits. The methodology triangulates analyses of urban and transportation plans, secondary data, time series spatial imagery, household surveys, and field observation. Three suburban neighborhoods were selected as case studies. Findings include the fact that MRT access stimulates residential development significantly, while having limited impact in terms of commercial or mixed-use (transit-oriented development) property development. While large-scale changes in land use and urban form attributable to MRT access are rare once an area is built up, adaptation occurs in the functions of buildings and areas near MRT stations, such as the emergence of first floor commercial uses in residential buildings. However, station precincts also attract street vendors, tricycles, illegal taxis and unregulated car parking, often impeding access and making immediate surroundings of MRT stations unattractive, perhaps accounting for the lack of significant accessibility premiums (identified by the researcher) near MRT stations in suburban Beijing. Household-based travel behavior surveys reveal that public transport, i.e., MRT and buses, accounts for over half of all commuting trips in the three case study suburban neighborhoods. Over 30% of the residents spend over an hour commuting to work, reflecting the prevalence of long-distance commutes, associated with a dearth of workplaces in suburban Beijing. Non-commuting trips surprisingly tell a different story, a large portion of the residents choose to drive because they are less restrained by travel time. The observed increase of the share of MRT trips to work generates significant benefits in terms of lowered energy consumption, reduced greenhouse gas and traditional air pollution emissions. But such savings could be easily offset if the share of driving trips increases with growing affluence, given the high emission intensities of cars. Bus use is found to be responsible for high local conventional air pollution, indicating that the current bus fleet in Beijing should be phased out and replaced by cleaner buses. Policy implications are put forward based on these findings. The Intellectual Merit of this study centers on increased understanding of the relationship between mass transit provision and sustainability outcomes in suburban metropolitan China. Despite its importance, little research of this genre has been undertaken in China. This study is unique because it focuses on the intermediate meso scale, where adaptation occurs more quickly and dramatically, and is easier to identify. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2012

abstract: Over the last two decades programs and mandates to encourage and foster sustainable urban development have arisen throughout the world, as cities have emerged as key opportunity sites for sustainable development due to the compactness and localization of services and resources. In order to recognize this potential, scholars and practitioners have turned to the practice of visioning as a way to motivate actions and decision making toward a sustainable future. A "vision" is defined as desirable state in the future and scholars believe that the creation of a shared, motivational vision is the best starting point to catalyze positive and sustainable change. However, recent studies on city visions indicate that they do not offer substantive sustainability content, and methods or processes to evaluate the sustainability content of the resulting vision (sustainability appraisal or assessment) are often absent from the visioning process. Thus, this paper explores methods for sustainability appraisal and their potential contributions to (and in) visioning. The goal is to uncover the elements of a robust sustainability appraisal and integrate them into the visioning process. I propose an integrated sustainability appraisal procedure based on sustainability criteria, indicators, and targets as part of a visioning methodology that was developed by a team of researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) of which I was a part. I demonstrate the applicability of the appraisal method in a case study of visioning in Phoenix, Arizona. The proposed method allows for early and frequent consideration and evaluation of sustainability objectives for urban development throughout the visioning process and will result in more sustainability-oriented visions. Further, it can allow for better measurement and monitoring of progress towards sustainability goals, which can make the goals more tangible and lead to more accountability for making progress towards the development of more sustainable cities in the future. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Sustainability 2013

The residential construction sector in the UK plays an important role in society’s wellbeing as it provides shelter, employment and promotes economic growth. However, the sector has been identified as a large contributor to climate change, resource depletion and is associated with different socio-economic issues such as fuel poverty and house affordability. The residential construction sector is growing quickly due to a high housing demand, as will the associated impacts unless significant changes are made. Several studies have assessed the environmental impacts of the residential construction sector, while the social and economic aspects of sustainability are often ignored but are equally important for sustainable development. This thesis presents a sustainability assessment framework capable of addressing the environmental, economic and social issues of the residential construction sector supply chain, using a life cycle approach in order to contribute toward an improved understanding of the current and future trends in the sector.The methodology developed has been applied to the residential construction sector in the UK and demonstrated through three case studies of conventional, passive and zero-carbon houses as well as a sustainability assessment at the sectoral level. The main stakeholders identified here are construction companies and workforce, home owners and occupiers, suppliers, local authorities and the government. The main sustainability issues are resource depletion, waste generation, environmental impacts such as global warming (GWP), ozone depletion, house price and affordability, contribution to GDP, provision of employment, health and safety, impact on local communities and business ethics. The assessment tools used to assess the environmental and economic sustainability are Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC), respectively. Social sustainability has been assessed using different social sustainability indicators applicable to the residential construction sector. LCA results indicate that zero-carbon houses have the lowest GWP of the three house types considered, being 71% lower than for the conventional house, compared to a 59% reduction for passive houses. However, passive houses have a better overall environmental performance as they have the lowest impacts for most environmental impact categories. LCC results, on the other hand, indicate that the total life cycle costs for zero-carbon houses are 21% higher than for conventional houses because of the additional cost of renewable technologies, while for passive houses costs are comparable to conventional houses. At a sectoral level, zero-carbon houses can achieve reductions of 13% of the sector’s annual GWP compared to conventional houses, however this will cost the residential construction sector an additional £3 billion per year. The construction of passive houses will cost an additional £1 billion per year compared to conventional houses but can help by reducing the sector’s annual GWP by 10%.This study shows that the current state of the housing sector is environmentally unsustainable and urgent changes must be made in the way houses are constructed and managed. However, the residential construction sector must overcome many socio-economic barriers before introducing low-carbon houses on a large scale.

The interest regarding sustainability assessment is increasing in the construction and civil industry, where CEEQUAL is the only sustainability assessment tool for civil projects in Sweden. CEEQUAL is a sustainability assessment founded in Great Britain, launched by the organisation Institution of Civil Engineers in 2003 with the purpose to assess sustainability aspects of civil- and infrastructure projects in Great Britain and Ireland. The certification according to CEEQUAL is based on self-assessment performed by an educated assessor. The assessor gather evidences which should prove that consideration has been taken to the purpose of the question in the CEEQUAL-manual. The evidence is then reviewed by an independent verifier, thereafter the project is assigned an award and a rating. In 2011, the international version was launched and Skanska was one of the first companies to certify a project outside Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the thesis is to examine two of the identified problems regarding the sustainability aspects in the civil industry today, monitoring of sustainability goals and the time consuming process to find adequate proof documentation of a CEEQUAL-certification. How well does CEEQUAL take into account the monitoring, both during the project but also during the operation and how CEEQUAL can be developed to be more sustainable. The time consuming process is remedied by a reference card, specific for road- and infrastructure projects at Skanska Sweden AB. In the operation manual of Skanska Sweden there is a variety of tools to be used as evidence in a CEEQUAL-certification. The main documents to consider are Project Plan, Risk Inventory, GreenWorkplace and Safety- and Environmental Tour. For Skanska to be more sustainable, they need to further consider responsible sourcing and the water usage of the project, both regarding the products but also the water usage during construction and operation stage. The case study BoKlok Runhälla is a development project by Skanska Väg och Anläggning Mellansverige, where the goal for the CEEQUAL-certification was to achieve at least 40 % of the total score, by only working with the usual tools that is used at a civil project at Skanska. BoKlok Runhälla achieved, after the self-assessment by the assessor, 60 % of the total score. Though, the high rate in this case is due to the right conditions regarding investigations of ecology and biodiversity, cultural relics and stormwater management together with a ground indication map. This was offset by the unsound ground conditions, which means that only a low percentage of the masses could be recycled. The case study shows that the right conditions together with prestudies about the prerequisites facilitates the certification substantially. CEEQUAL contributes to a monitoring of the sustainability work during the construction stage of the project by documentation of the evidences within a number of sustainability aspects. CEEQUAL is certifying the process, that there are procedures considering sustainability rather than the performance, in other words what is fulfilled considering the usage of energy, water, waste and so on. The CEEQUAL manual is designed so that the requirements are met, not how they has been fulfilled or what it can cause. The difficulty is to set up general guidelines and measures of for example the usage of water, electricity and waste. Now, CEEQUAL only rewards if there are any measures or goals, but no target level of it. One can conclude that the CEEQUAL manual working effectively to cover up the relevant subjects for the compliance of the projects. Preparations in terms of plans and programs which facilitates a sustainable work during operation stage of the project is covered by the manual. Though, one problem is that the project only gets rewarded and not penalized, which means that a project can get a certificate without regards to the compliance of the project. Recommendations for CEEQUAL to developed is to work with clear guidelines on target levels in terms of the consumption of electricity, water, waste et cetera and to use mandatory requirements for the projects to ensure a minimum level and that no considerable sustainability aspect are waived. Also set higher standards on the suppliers and the choice of materials regarding life cycle analysis, which should not only consider energy consumptions and greenhouse gases but also have a broader perspective are development opportunities for CEEQUAL. Besides this, a discussion was held regarding if time-limited certification together with monitoring of the sustainability work after a few years is a step in the right direction. This requires a greater commitment from all parties involved, including clients and operators. However, the review of the manual shows that for a sustainable work a major commitment from the client and the designer is needed to create the conditions for a more sustainable work.

学位プログラム名: 京都大学大学院思修館 / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(総合学術) / 甲第22611号 / 総総博第11号 / 新制||総総||2(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院総合生存学館総合生存学専攻 / (主査)教授 IALNAZOV Dimiter Savov, 教授 山敷 庸亮, 特定教授 高島 宏明, 教授 大垣 英明 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy / Kyoto University / DFAM