IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i11p4466-d365631.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SDG-Based Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Innovations in the Field of Urban Surfaces

Author

Listed:
  • Kristina Henzler

    (Institute for Acoustics and Building Physics, Department Life Cycle Engineering, University of Stuttgart, 70563 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Stephanie D. Maier

    (Institute for Acoustics and Building Physics, Department Life Cycle Engineering, University of Stuttgart, 70563 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Michael Jäger

    (Department Life Cycle Engineering, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, 70563 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Rafael Horn

    (Institute for Acoustics and Building Physics, Department Life Cycle Engineering, University of Stuttgart, 70563 Stuttgart, Germany)

Abstract

The sustainability of urban surfaces can be enhanced by introducing innovations. An ex-ante assessment of the potential sustainability impacts of innovations in urban areas can provide decision-makers with valuable recommendations for their selection before implementation. This knowledge helps to make the innovation more future-proof. Although a first methodological approach for such an assessment is available, there is no readily applicable set of indicators. Hence, this article proposes a holistic sustainability impact assessment method tailored to the management of urban surfaces and their innovations. For the development of the method, a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-based, top-down approach is adopted. The proposed assessment method makes it possible to identify an innovation’s potential contribution to the achievement of the SDGs before its introduction. In this article, the assessment method is tested by evaluating the sustainability impacts of weed-suppressing joint filling sand on a walkway in a municipal cemetery in Southern Germany. The case study shows that a mixed impact of the innovation in the three dimensions of sustainability could be expected within the system boundary. It highlights the need for innovation optimization, mainly in the economic dimension. As a result, the introduced method can support the innovation process of urban surfaces for sustainable municipal development.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristina Henzler & Stephanie D. Maier & Michael Jäger & Rafael Horn, 2020. "SDG-Based Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Innovations in the Field of Urban Surfaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-32, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4466-:d:365631
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4466/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4466/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ziegler, Astrid, 2010. "Welche Auswirkungen haben betriebliche Innovationen auf die Beschäftigten?," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 63(2), pages 103-108.
    2. Christina Wulf & Jasmin Werker & Christopher Ball & Petra Zapp & Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs, 2019. "Review of Sustainability Assessment Approaches Based on Life Cycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-43, October.
    3. Matthias Finkbeiner & Erwin M. Schau & Annekatrin Lehmann & Marzia Traverso, 2010. "Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(10), pages 1-14, October.
    4. Koopmans, Ruud & Veit, Susanne & Yemane, Ruta, 2018. "Ethnische Hierarchien in der Bewerberauswahl: Ein Feldexperiment zu den Ursachen von Arbeitsmarktdiskriminierung," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Migration, Integration, Transnationalization SP VI 2018-104, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Jing Wang & Stephanie D. Maier & Rafael Horn & Robert Holländer & Ralf Aschemann, 2018. "Development of an Ex-Ante Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Municipal Solid Waste Management Innovations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-29, September.
    6. Sabbie A. Miller & Arpad Horvath & Paulo J. M. Monteiro, 2018. "Impacts of booming concrete production on water resources worldwide," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 69-76, January.
    7. Stephanie D. Maier & Tabea Beck & Javier Francisco Vallejo & Rafael Horn & Jan-Hendrik Söhlemann & Trung Thanh Nguyen, 2016. "Methodological Approach for the Sustainability Assessment of Development Cooperation Projects for Built Innovations Based on the SDGs and Life Cycle Thinking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-26, October.
    8. Michael Kühnen & Samanthi Silva & Janpeter Beckmann & Ulrike Eberle & Rüdiger Hahn & Christoph Hermann & Stefan Schaltegger & Marianne Schmid, 2019. "Contributions to the sustainable development goals in life cycle sustainability assessment: Insights from the Handprint research project," NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 65-82, March.
    9. Stephanie D. Maier & Jan Paul Lindner & Javier Francisco, 2019. "Conceptual Framework for Biodiversity Assessments in Global Value Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marwa B. Hannouf & Alejandro Padilla‐Rivera & Getachew Assefa & Ian Gates, 2023. "Methodological framework to find links between life cycle sustainability assessment categories and the UN Sustainable Development Goals based on literature," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 707-725, June.
    2. Davide Rovelli & Carlo Brondi & Michele Andreotti & Elisabetta Abbate & Maurizio Zanforlin & Andrea Ballarino, 2022. "A Modular Tool to Support Data Management for LCA in Industry: Methodology, Application and Potentialities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Francisco J. Tapiador & Andrés Navarro & Josu Mezo & Sergio de la Llave & Jesús Muñoz, 2021. "Urban Vegetation Leveraging Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.
    4. So Young Lee & José M. Díaz-Puente & Pablo Vidueira, 2020. "Enhancing Rural Innovation and Sustainability Through Impact Assessment: A Review of Methods and Tools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-26, August.
    5. Tiziano Cattaneo & Emanuele Giorgi & Mauricio Flores & Viviana Barquero, 2020. "Territorial Effects of Shared-Living Heritage Regeneration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-28, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marwa B. Hannouf & Alejandro Padilla‐Rivera & Getachew Assefa & Ian Gates, 2023. "Methodological framework to find links between life cycle sustainability assessment categories and the UN Sustainable Development Goals based on literature," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 707-725, June.
    2. Roope Husgafvel, 2021. "Exploring Social Sustainability Handprint—Part 1: Handprint and Life Cycle Thinking and Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-36, October.
    3. Alexander Barke & Walter Cistjakov & Dominik Steckermeier & Christian Thies & Jan‐Linus Popien & Peter Michalowski & Sofia Pinheiro Melo & Felipe Cerdas & Christoph Herrmann & Ulrike Krewer & Arno Kwa, 2023. "Green batteries for clean skies: Sustainability assessment of lithium‐sulfur all‐solid‐state batteries for electric aircraft," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 795-810, June.
    4. Tobias Engelmann & Daniel Fischer & Marianne Lörchner & Jaya Bowry & Holger Rohn, 2019. "“Doing” Sustainability Assessment in Different Consumption and Production Contexts—Lessons from Case Study Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-25, December.
    5. T.E.T Dantas & S.R Soares, 2022. "Systematic literature review on the application of life cycle sustainability assessment in the energy sector," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1583-1615, February.
    6. Natalia Muñoz López & Jose Luis Santolaya Sáenz & Anna Biedermann & Ana Serrano Tierz, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment of Product–Service Systems Using Flows between Systems Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Oluwaseun Nubi & Stephen Morse & Richard J. Murphy, 2022. "Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation from Municipal Solid Waste in Nigeria: A Prospective Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Christina Wulf & Jasmin Werker & Christopher Ball & Petra Zapp & Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs, 2019. "Review of Sustainability Assessment Approaches Based on Life Cycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-43, October.
    9. Roope Husgafvel, 2021. "Exploring Social Sustainability Handprint—Part 2: Sustainable Development and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-35, October.
    10. Datu Buyung Agusdinata & Wenjuan Liu & Sinta Sulistyo & Philippe LeBillon & Je'anne Wegner, 2023. "Evaluating sustainability impacts of critical mineral extractions: Integration of life cycle sustainability assessment and SDGs frameworks," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 746-759, June.
    11. Sierra-Pérez, Jorge & Rodríguez-Soria, Beatriz & Boschmonart-Rives, Jesús & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2018. "Integrated life cycle assessment and thermodynamic simulation of a public building’s envelope renovation: Conventional vs. Passivhaus proposal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1510-1521.
    12. Hache, Emmanuel & Simoën, Marine & Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Bonnet, Clément & Jabberi, Aymen & Carcanague, Samuel, 2020. "The impact of future power generation on cement demand: An international and regional assessment based on climate scenarios," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 114-133.
    13. Hannah Karlewski & Annekatrin Lehmann & Klaus Ruhland & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2019. "A Practical Approach for Social Life Cycle Assessment in the Automotive Industry," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-60, August.
    14. Ming Tang & Huchang Liao & Zhengjun Wan & Enrique Herrera-Viedma & Marc A. Rosen, 2018. "Ten Years of Sustainability (2009 to 2018): A Bibliometric Overview," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    15. Oana Țugulea, 2017. "City Brand Personality—Relations with Dimensions and Dimensions Inter-Relations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Robin Hogrefe & Sabine Bohnet-Joschko, 2023. "The Social Dimension of Corporate Sustainability: Review of an Evolving Research Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    17. Cristina López & Rocío Ruíz-Benítez & Carmen Vargas-Machuca, 2019. "On the Environmental and Social Sustainability of Technological Innovations in Urban Bus Transport: The EU Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-22, March.
    18. Yongxiang Cui & Jiafei Jiang & Tengfei Fu & Sifeng Liu, 2022. "Feasibility of using Waste Brine/Seawater and Sea Sand for the Production of Concrete: An Experimental Investigation from Mechanical Properties and Durability Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    19. Louisa Pollok & Sebastian Spierling & Hans-Josef Endres & Ulrike Grote, 2021. "Social Life Cycle Assessments: A Review on Past Development, Advances and Methodological Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-29, September.
    20. Miro Ristimäki & Seppo Junnila, 2015. "Sustainable Urban Development Calls for Responsibility through Life Cycle Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-25, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4466-:d:365631. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.