Sustainability assessment is being increasingly viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards sustainability. However, this is a new and evolving concept and there remain very few examples of effective sustainability assessment processes implemented anywhere in the world. Sustainability assessment is often described as a process by which the implications of an initiative on sustainabi...

As the world rapidly urbanizes, there is much focus on achieving sustainability outcomes within cities. Accomplishing this goal requires not only envisioning sustainable cities and implementing strategies, but it also demands assessing progress towards sustainable urban development. Despite a growing literature on sustainability assessment, there is room to further understand the application of...

a r t i c l e i n f o This paper examines the strategic environmental assessment (SEA)–sustainability relationship over the past decade, from 2000 to 2010, focusing in particular on the incorporation of sustainability in SEA. A total of 86 papers from the academic literature containing the terms 'sustainability' or 'sustainable development' and 'strategic environmental assessment' were identifi...

It is argued that biodiversity and nutrient status are essential factors in any meaningful assessment of sustainability. Criteria and indicators are the dominant current methodology for the assessment of forest sustainability. Some dangers involved in complete reliance on indicators are discussed. It is suggested that model-based sustainability assessment is often more appropriate for changing ...

Implementing and growing a public health program that benefits society takes considerable time and effort. To ensure that positive outcomes are maintained over time, program managers and stakeholders should plan and implement activities to build sustainability capacity within their programs. We describe a 3-part sustainability planning process that programs can follow to build their sustainabil...

nowadays, issues such as global climate change, poverty and inequity, and the unsustainable use of resources are driving organizations to incorporate the principles of sustainable development into projects. sustainable development of organizations and companies requires consideration of all three sustainability dimensions: environmental, economic and social should integrate economic, social and...

Measuring the comparative sustainability levels of cities, regions, institutions and projects is an essential procedure in creating sustainable urban futures. This paper introduces a new urban sustainability assessment model: ―The Sustainable Infrastructure, Land-use, Environment and Transport Model (SILENT)‖. The SILENT Model is an advanced geographic information system and indicator-based com...

Sustainability assessments bring together different perspectives that pertain to sustainability to produce overall assessments, and a wealth of approaches and tools have been developed in the past decades. However, two major problems remain. The problem of integration concerns the surplus of possibilities for integration; different tools produce different assessments. The problem of implementat...

Technology assessment is a vital part of decision process in manufacturing, particularly for decisions on selection of new sustainable manufacturing processes. To assess these processes, a matrix approach is introduced and sustainability assessment models are developed. Case studies show that the matrix-based approach provides a flexible and practical way for sustainability evaluation of new ma...