Sustainability assessmentAn applicable tools and modeling in sustainability assessment
Shahram SadeghiMaster student of Sustainable Urban Technology Center of Logistics and Traffic, institute of city planning and designUniversity of Duisburg-Essen, [email protected]
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
The origin of the “Sustainability” term
´ The concept of sustainability, or sustainable development, is clearly the basis of sustainability assessment(Pope, Annandale et al. 2004).
´ sustainability assessment thinking has been substantially developed by EIA and SEA practitioners(Sadler, 1999) .
´ In the literature, sustainability assessment is generally viewed as a tool in the ‘family’ of impact assessment processes, closely related to EIA applied to projects and SEA applied to policies, plans and programs (PPPs) (Devuyst, 2001, p. 9)
´ sustainability assessment is often considered to be the ‘next generation’ of environmental assessment(Sadler, 1999).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Available definitions of sustainability assessment includes(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´ ‘‘Sustainability assessment is. . . a tool that can help decision-makers andpolicy-makers decide what actions they should take and should not take inan attempt to make society more sustainable’’ (Devuyst, 2001 , p. 9)
´ The aim of sustainability assessment is to ensure that ‘‘plans and activitiesmake an optimal contribution to sustainable development’’ (Verheem, 2002) .
´ the purpose of sustainability assessment is to provide decision-makers withan evaluation of global to local integrated nature–society systems in short-and long-term perspectives in order to assist them to determine whichactions should or should not be taken in an attempt to make societysustainable (Kates et al. (2001))
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Before any sustainability assessment, these items should be observed (Browne, O'Regan et al. 2012)
´ Identifying key variables to describe systems;
´ Assessing their inter-relationships;
´ Defining measurable objectives and criteria;
´ Highlighting feedback mechanisms at both the
individual and institutional levels
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Classification and evaluation of sustainability assessment methodologies
There are two distinct methodologies can be found for sustainability assessment (Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´Monetary aggregation method´Physical indicators
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**Regarding the goal of this presentation that is introduce the environmental tools, it focuses just on the Physical indicators**
Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
A holistic framework developed by Ness et al (2007) for sustainability assessment tools which covers issues in three umbrella(Singh, Murtyet al. 2009)
´1. Indicators and indices
´2. Product related tools
´3. Integrated assessment tools
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Framework of Sustainability Assessment Tools(Ness et al 2007)
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Indicators and indices
´ Indicators are simple measures, most often
quantitative that represent a state of economic,
social and/or environmental development in a
defined region, often the national level. When
indicators are aggregated in some manner, the
resulting measure is an index (Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Characteristics of indicator (Harger and Meyer(1996), (Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007))
´ simplicity,
´ Should have scope in a wide range
´ Quantifiable
´ Allow trends to be determined
´ Tools that are sensitive to change
´ Allow timely identification of trends.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Classification of Indicator and indices(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´1. Non-integrated´2. Regional flows indices´3. Integrated
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Non-integrated indicators example(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ Environmental Pressure Indicators (EPIs) developed by Eurosat.
(The EPI set consists of 60 indicators, six in each of the ten policy fields under the Fifth Environmental Action Program)
´ Set of 58 national indicators used by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD)
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Regional flows analysis indicators
´ Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
´ Substance flow analysis
´ Energy flow analysis
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Integrated indicator/ indices examples
´ Ecological footprint
´ Human development Index
´ Wellbeing index
´ Sustainable national income
´ Environment sustainability index
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Environment sustainability indices categories(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´ environmental sustainability index (ESI) is a measure of the overall progress
towards environmental sustainability.
´ The ESI is based upon a set of 68 basic indicators. These are then aggregated to
construct 21 core indicators. The Environmental Sustainability Index value for
each economy is simply the average value for the 21 factors. For every variable
in our data set we created a normalized range and scaled values from 0 (low
sustainability) to 100 (high sustainability) (WEF, 2002).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Environment Quality Index(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´The main environmental factors are selected and defined on the basis ofthe multi attribute utility theory and a numerical evaluation carried outby applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology (Saaty,1980). A weighted sum of all environmental factors forms the so-calledenvironmental quality index (EQI), which gives an estimate of the overallenvironmental impact of each alternative (Bisset, 1988). Eachenvironmental factor is interpreted as a linear utility function, whichassumes values in the range 0–10. The utility functions are given theweights according to the importance of each environmental factor, andthe weighted sum is the environmental quality index for which amaximum is sought.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Concern about environmental problems(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´The index proposed by Parker aims to measure the concern of
the public on certain environmental problems (Parker, 1991).
Eleven indicators are considered, four related to air problems
(nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and
particulates), two indicators associated with water problems
(bathing and fertilisers) and five landscape-related indicators
(population change, new dwellings, tourism, traffic and waste).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Index of Environmental Friendliness(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´The model for the Index of Environmental Friendliness is a general
model for the aggregation of direct and indirect pressure data to
problem indices and further to an overall Index of Environmental
Friendliness. The scope of the model is designed to cover the key
environmental problems of greenhouse effect, ozone depletion,
acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicological effect, resource
depletion, photo-oxidation, biodiversity, radiation and noise
(Puolamaa et al., 1996).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Environmental Policy Performance Indicator(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´The composite indicator aims to monitor the trend in the total
environmental pressure in the Netherlands and indicate whether the
environmental policy is heading in the right direction or not (Adriaanse,
1993). Six theme indicators (composed of several simple indicators) are
combined, including: (a) change of climate, (b) acidification, (c)
eutrophication, (d) dispersion of toxic substances, (e) disposal of solid
waste, and (f) odour and noise disturbance.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Environmental Performance Index(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´ Complementary to the ESI which focuses on the environmental dimension of
sustainability, ‘‘the EPI addresses the need for a gauge of policy performance in
reducing environmental stresses on human health and promoting ecosystem vitality
and sound natural resource management. The EPI focuses on current on-the-ground
outcomes across a core set of environmental issues tracked through six policy
categories for which all governments are being held accountable’’ (Esty et al., 2006).
All variables are normalised in a scale from 0 to 100. The maximum value of 100 is
linked to the target, the minimum value of 0 characterises the worst competitor in the
field. Weights are drawn from statistical mechanisms or by consulting experts. Finally,
the six policy categories are aggregated to the ESI taking the weighted sum.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Environmental Vulnerability Index(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´The environmental vulnerability index (EVI) compromises 32 indicators of
hazards, 8 indicators of resistance, and 10 indicators that measure
damage (SOPAC, 2005). The EVI scale for normalization ranges between
a value of 1 (indicating high resilience/low vulnerability) and 7
(indicating low resilience/ high vulnerability). The 50 indicators are given
equal weights and then aggregated by an arithmetic mean (EVI, 2005).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Two ‘‘synthetic environmental indices’’(Singh, Murty et al. 2009)
´In the review paper of Isla M., two composite indicators (one
structural and one functional) are developed aiming to assist
the local municipalities of Barcelona to monitor and evaluate
their environmental performance (Isla, 1997). Twenty-two sub-
indicators for environment are combined into two synthetic
indices, a structural and a functional one.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Product related assessment(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ Life cycle assessment
´ life cycle costing
´ product material flow
´ product energy analysis
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Life cycle assessment
´ The most established and well-developed tool in this category is Life Cycle Assessment(LCA). It is an approach that analyses real and potential pressure that a product has onthe environment during raw material acquisition, production process, use, and disposal of
the product (Lindfors, 1995). The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has establishedguidelines and principles for LCA. LCA results provide information for decisions regardingproduct development and eco-design, production system improvements, and productchoice at the consumer level. Life Cycle Assessment has been performed for the pulp andpaper industry (Ekvall, 1999; Ross and Evans, 2002; Lopes et al., 2003), the waste and
energy field (Lunghi et al., 2004; Finnveden et al., 2005; Moberg et al., 2005), as well as amultitude of other product and service areas.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Life cycle costing(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ Life cycle costing (LCC) is an economic approach that sums up “total
costs of a product, process or activity discounted over its lifetime”
(Gluch and Baumann, 2004). In principle LCC is not associated with
environmental costs, but costs in general. There are many different tools
for life cycle costing analysis, but only two of them include
environmental costs — Life Cycle Cost Assessment and Full Cost
Environmental Accounting.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Product material flow(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ Analysis of material and substance flows is also used for product systems. TheWuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy has developed aproduct Material Intensity Analysis based on the Material Input per unit ofService (MIPS) index (expressed in weight) (Spangenberg et al., 1999). Thisanalysis considers all the material flows connected to a particular product or aservice including the so called ecological rucksack. The ecological rucksackconsists of all the materials required for the complete production process minusthe actual weight of the product and represents the actual material intensity ofa given product. The MIPS concept has been the starting point for the strategicdiscussions on the Factor 4 and Factor 10 goals.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Product energy analysis(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ Product energy analysis measures the energy that is required to manufacture a product or a
service (Herendeen, 2004). It includes both direct and indirect energy flows. Indirect energy is the
energy that is used for producing inputs, for example, energy that is used to produce metal for
the car industry. An example of tools for analysing product or service energy requirements is
Process Energy Analysis (Hovelius, 1997). It focuses on different processes and levels in the product
life cycle and sums up the flows of energy use through each of the production process stages.
Life cycle-based Exergy and Emergy Analysis also occur. Emergy Analysis has been used for
analysing production processes of a single product (Hovelius, 1997) as well as whole industries
(Doherty et al., 2002), while Exergy Analysis has been used for analysing energy systems such as
heating or electricity production (Nilsson, 1997; Brown and Ulgiati, 2002).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
integrated assessment tools(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ they are used for supporting decisions related to a policy or a project in a
specific region. Project related tools are used for local scale assessments,
whereas the policy related focus on local to global scale assessments. In the
context of sustainability assessment, integrated assessment tools have an ex-
ante focus and often are carried out in the form of scenarios. Many of these
integrated assessment tools are based on systems analysis approaches and
integrate nature and society aspects. Integrated assessment consists of the
wide-array of tools for managing complex issues (Gough et al., 1998).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Integrated assessment methods(Ness, Urbel-Piirsalu et al. 2007)
´ Conceptual model and system dynamic´ Multi criteria analysis´ Risk and uncertainty analysis´ Cost benefit analysis´ Vulnerability analysis´ Impact assessment
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Biophysical frameworks(Browne, O'Regan et al. 2012)
´Biophysical framework focuses on both the
economic and ecological perspectives and are
capable of more accurately reflecting the
sustainability implications of production and
consumption.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
The main biophysical approaches to measuring national, regional or urban sustainability(Browne, O'Regan et al. 2012)
´ Material and energy flow accounting (MEFA)
´ Urban metabolism and Socio-accounting
´ Ecological foot-printing (EF)
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Combination of bio-physical sustainable methods and accounting (Browne, O'Regan et al. 2012)
´ Energy flow accounting,
´ Energy flow metabolism ratio analysis
´ Ecological foot-printing
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Applying combination methods in order to :
´ Identify whether using different methods achieves the same results in an
urban sustainability evaluation;
´ Identify what the impacts are of using more than one method when
measuring sustainability;
´ Apply these methods at the city-region level to show whether they can be
used at such a spatial boundary level;
´ Identify the strengths and drawbacks of applying these methods at the
city-region level.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Energy Flow Accounting
´ The Laws of Thermodynamics offer a basis for the physical quantification of the interactions between natural systems and their surroundings, including natural capital stocks and flows (Weston and Ruth, 1997).
´ The mass balance principle, based on the First Law of Thermodynamics, states that mass inputs must equal mass outputs plus net accumulation of materials for every process step (Giljum and Hubacek, 2001).
´ Though, the aggregation of all input and output bounds of the subcomponents of a system, should not always necessarily equal the whole input and output of the overall system, due to double-calculation, intra-economy fluxes and material interdependencies of components and sectors (Schandl et al., 2002).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Material and energy flow accounting (MEFA) uses the mass balance approach to measure
´ Inputs such as raw materials, solid fuel and electricity
´ Intermediate and final manufactured goods and products
´ Outputs, including wastes, emissions and exports
´ Accumulation of stock within the economy (Sheerin, 2002).
´ It applies a systems approach to establish the fate of materials or
energy flows from the point of extraction to their ultimate disposal(Chambers et al., 2004; Kovanda and Hak, 2006).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Strength of MEFA Weakness of MEFAAllows for complete accounting of the biophysical dimensions of economic activities o and provides insights into the structure and change over time of
the physical o metabolism of economies
It is based on a single accounting unit so is not value-neutral
Provides a framework for integrated environmental–economic accounting as it shares o system
boundaries and aggregates data according to economic sectors
It is difficult to measure hidden flows
Provides indicators for material inputs, outputs and intensity of consumption at all levels of aggregation It is possible to double-count trade flows
Focuses on persistent, scale-related environmental problems
The link to the actors responsible for the activation of material flows is not established and, therefore, it
is not clear which groups in society should contribute to a strategy of dematerialisation, should
such a policy goal be adopted nationally or on a
local or regional basis
Can be used to indicate dematerialization of study area and to illustrate decoupling if
used with economic or service function indicators
Comparative analysis of energy flow accounts may be difficult as statistical data are incomplete or
inconsistent
Data are available at national level in a time series, thus allowing for comparison
Weight-based indicators do not reveal anything about qualitative aspects such as scarcities
Strengths and weaknesses of MEFA (Giljum and Hinterberger, 2004; Haberl et al., 2004; Hinterbergeret al., 2003; Krausmann et al., 2004; Sheerin, 2002; Van der Voet et al., 2005).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Urban metabolism framework
´ Urban metabolism, is a framework to monitor and tracking material and
energy fluxes within cities. it concept empirically applied by Wolman (1965)
by applying national data on water, food and fuel use, along with
production rates of sewage, waste and air pollutants to determine per
capita inflow and outflow rates for a hypothetical American city of one
million people (White, 2002). Urban metabolism analysis framework
conducted to Tokyo (Hanya, 1976), Brussels (Duvigneaud, 1977), Hong kong
(Boyaden, 1981), and some others.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Ecological Footprint
´ The EF is presented as a simple operational indicator to aid in monitoring progress towards (un)sustainability, i.e. maintenance (loss) of natural capital. It accounts for the flows of energy and matter to and from a specific economy or activity, converted into
corresponding land and water area needed to support these flows. Six land categories are included in the procedure, namely consumed/degraded land (built environment), gardens, crop land, pasture land and grasslands, productive forest, and energy land. EF analysis is suggested to be useful in determining the human appropriation of ecological production, measured in area units. The power of the method is the fact that all human
exploitation of resources and environment is reduced to a single dimension, namely land, and water area needed for its support (Jeroen C.J.M van den Bergh, Spatial sustainability, trade and indicators: an
evaluation of the ‘ecological footprint’, April 1999) .
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Methodology of EF
Ecological Footprint accounting framework (Alessandro Galli M. W., 2014)
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Input-Output analysis
´ Input–output analysis is the name given to an analytical frameworkdeveloped by Professor Wassily Leontief in the late 1930s, in recognition ofwhich he received the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1973 (Leontief,1936, 1941). The term “inter-industry analysis” is also used, since the
fundamental purpose of the input–output framework is to analyze theinterdependence of industries in an economy. Today the basic conceptsset forth by Leontief are critical components of many types of economicanalysis and, indeed, input– output analysis is one of the most widely
applied methods in economics (Baumol, 2000). (Ronald E. Miller, July 2009)
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Environmental Input–Output Analysis
´ Since the late 1960s the input–output framework has been extended by
many researchers to account for environmental pollution generation and
abatement associated with interindustry activity. Leontief (1970) himself
provided one of the key methodological extensions that has since been
applied widely and extended further. In the environmental extensions we
must include some additional conditions in order to enforce consistency
among interindustry production, pollution generation, and pollution
abatement activities (Ronald E. Miller, July 2009).
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Bibliography
´ Browned, D., et al. (2012). "Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flowmetabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuringurban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region." Ecological Economics 83: 97-107
´ Ness, B., et al. (2007). "Categorising tools for sustainability assessment." EcologicalEconomics 60(3): 498-508.
´ Pope, J., et al. (2004). "Conceptualising sustainability assessment." EnvironmentalImpact Assessment Review 24(6): 595-616.
´ Singh, R. K., et al. (2009). "An overview of sustainability assessmentmethodologies." Ecological indicators 9(2): 189-212.
´ Ronald E. Miller, P. D. (July 2009). Input-Output Analysis-Foundations andExtensions (2nd ed.). Cambridge publication.
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Shahram Sadeghi, July 2015, ZLV, Uni DUE
Bibliography
´ Alessandro Galli, M. W. (2014). Ecological Footprint: Implications for biodiversity.Biological Conservation .
´ Jeroen C.J.M van den Bergh, H. V. (April 1999). Spatial sustainability, trade andindicators: an evaluation of the ‘ecological footprint’. Ecological Economics ,61-72.
´ White, R. (2002). Building the Ecological City.Woodhead: Cambridge.
´ Sadler B. A framework for environmental sustainability assessment andassurance. In: Petts J, editor, Handbook of environmental impact assessment,vol. 1. Oxford: Blackwell; 1999. pp. 12–32.
´ Devuyst D. Introduction to sustainability assessment at the local level. In: DevuystD, editor. How green is the city? Sustainability assessment and the managementof urban environments. New York: Columbia University Press; 2001. pp. 1– 41.
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