IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jworld/v1y2020i2p9-123d396798.html

Enhancing Urban Sustainable Indicators in a German City—Towards Human-Centered Measurements for Sustainable Urban Planning

Author

Listed:
  • Caroline Kramer

    (Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IfGG), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany)

  • Madeleine Wagner

    (Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IfGG), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
    Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany)

Abstract

This contribution demonstrates how more human-centered measurements for sustainable urban planning can be created by enlarging the traditional set of urban sustainability indicators. In many municipal reports, sustainable indicators concentrate on environmental issues, by collecting data at an aggregated spatial and temporal level using quantitative methods. Our approach aims to expand and improve the currently dominant quantitative–statistical methods by including perception geographical data (subjective indicators following the social indicator approach), namely additional indicators at spatial and temporal levels. Including small-scale city district levels and a temporal differentiation produces more process assessments and a better representation of everyday life. Based on a survey we conducted at district levels in the city of Karlsruhe, we cover three sustainability dimensions (ecological, social, economic) and analyze (1) how citizens are mobile in a sustainable way (bike use) and (2) how they perceive and react to heat events in the city. We argue for taking people’s perception and the spatiality and temporality of their daily activities better into account when further developing urban sustainability indicators and when aiming for a sustainable, human-centered urban development.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Kramer & Madeleine Wagner, 2020. "Enhancing Urban Sustainable Indicators in a German City—Towards Human-Centered Measurements for Sustainable Urban Planning," World, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:1:y:2020:i:2:p:9-123:d:396798
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/1/2/9/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/1/2/9/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adrian Healy & Kevin Morgan, 2012. "Spaces of Innovation: Learning, Proximity and the Ecological Turn," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(8), pages 1041-1053, June.
    2. Bill Hopwood & Mary Mellor & Geoff O'Brien, 2005. "Sustainable development: mapping different approaches," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 38-52.
    3. Tomás B. Ramos, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment: Exploring the Frontiers and Paradigms of Indicator Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Didem Dizdaroglu, 2017. "The Role of Indicator-Based Sustainability Assessment in Policy and the Decision-Making Process: A Review and Outlook," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Juste Rajaonson & Georges A. Tanguay, 2019. "Urban Sustainability Indicators from a Regional Perspective: Lessons from the Montreal Metropolitan Area," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 985-1005, February.
    6. Jeremy Howells, 2012. "The geography of knowledge: never so close but never so far apart," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(5), pages 1003-1020, September.
    7. Philipp Babcicky, 2013. "Rethinking the Foundations of Sustainability Measurement: The Limitations of the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 133-157, August.
    8. Bob Giddings & Bill Hopwood & Geoff O'Brien, 2002. "Environment, economy and society: fitting them together into sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 187-196.
    9. John Parkins & Richard Stedman & Jeji Varghese, 2001. "Moving towards local-level indicators of sustainability in forest-based communities: A mixed-method approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 43-72, October.
    10. Schneider, Uta & Hilgert, Tim, 2017. "Urbane Familienmobilität im Wandel: Wie sind Familien im Alltag mobil und wie bewerten sie neue Mobilitätskonzepte?," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S08/2017, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    11. Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 2018. "Sustainability Indicators Past and Present: What Next?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    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. Adel Saleh Bouregh, 2022. "A Conceptual Framework of Public Participation Utilization for Sustainable Urban Planning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Madeleine Wagner & Anna Growe, 2021. "Research on Small and Medium-Sized Towns: Framing a New Field of Inquiry," World, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Francisco Calderón & Daniel Orellana & María Isabel Carrasco & Johnatan Astudillo & María Augusta Hermida, 2024. "Urban Sustainability Through the Lens of Urban Fabric Typologies: A Case Study of Cuenca, Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-28, November.

    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. Denis Michalina & Peter Mederly & Hans Diefenbacher & Benjamin Held, 2021. "Sustainable Urban Development: A Review of Urban Sustainability Indicator Frameworks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Maria Inês Paes Ferreira & Graham Sakaki & Pamela Shaw & Thaís Nacif de Souza Riscado & Luis Felipe Umbelino, 2023. "Sustainable Water Management and the 2030 Agenda: Comparing Rain Forest Watersheds in Canada and Brazil by Applying an Innovative Sustainability Indicator System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Ratana Chuenpagdee & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Storytelling for sustainable development in rural communities: An alternative approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1813-1826, November.
    4. Endl, Andreas & Tost, Michael & Hitch, Michael & Moser, Peter & Feiel, Susanne, 2021. "Europe's mining innovation trends and their contribution to the sustainable development goals: Blind spots and strong points," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Bahadur Ali Soomro & Ikhtiar Ali Ghumro & Naimatullah Shah, 2020. "Green entrepreneurship inclination among the younger generation: An avenue towards a green economy," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 585-594, July.
    6. Eran Feitelson & Eliahu Stern, 2023. "The double negative approach to sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 2109-2121, August.
    7. Williams, Belinda & Wilmshurst, Trevor & Clift, Robert, 2011. "Sustainability reporting by local government in Australia: Current and future prospects," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 176-186.
    8. Ying Li & Robert J. S. Beeton & Xiaofeng Zhao & Yeting Fan & Qingke Yang & Jianbao Li & Linlin Ding, 2024. "Advancing urban sustainability transitions: A framework for understanding urban complexity and enhancing integrative transformations," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Kenneth Martínez & David Claudio & Jasmina Burek, 2026. "Monitoring Resilient Techno-Human-Economic Systems Performance Through Simulation Modeling," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-45, March.
    10. Chiu, Mei-Shiu, 2013. "Tensions in implementing the “energy-conservation/carbon-reduction” policy in Taiwanese culture," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 415-425.
    11. Lee, Misuk & Choi, Hyunhong & Koo, Yoonmo, 2017. "Inconvenience cost of waste disposal behavior in South Korea," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 58-65.
    12. Z. R. M. Abdullah Kaiser, 2023. "Failing to attain sustainable development in Bangladesh: A potential comprehensive strategy for sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 3086-3101, August.
    13. Hooshmand Alizadeh & Milad Doostvandi & Milad Zandsalimi, 2024. "Redefining sustainable urban development: A critical analysis in the wake of COVID‐19," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 6163-6181, December.
    14. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:2:p:438-463 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Adriana DAVIDESCU & Vasile Alecsandru STRAT, 2014. "Coordinates of a New Romanian Regional Policy - Identifying the Development Poles. A Case Study," Informatica Economica, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 18(2), pages 88-99.
    16. Hametner, Markus & Kostetckaia, Mariia, 2020. "Frontrunners and laggards: How fast are the EU member states progressing towards the sustainable development goals?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    17. Fátima Lanhoso & Denis Alves Coelho, 2021. "Emergence fostered by systemic analysis—Seeding innovation for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 768-779, July.
    18. Güngör Turan, 2026. "Advancing Sustainable Development with Enhancing the Quality of the Environment: The Role of Human Resources Through Education Expansion and Technological Innovation in Türkiye," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 17(1), pages 2378-2407, February.
    19. Jiaqi Liu & Zhenping Zhang & Jiayin Qi & Hong Wu & Manyi Chen, 2019. "Understanding the Impact of Opinion Leaders’ Characteristics on Online Group Knowledge-Sharing Engagement from In-Group and Out-Group Perspectives: Evidence from a Chinese Online Knowledge-Sharing Community," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-28, August.
    20. Pekka Halla & Albert Merino‐Saum, 2022. "Conceptual frameworks in indicator‐based assessments of urban sustainability—An analysis based on 67 initiatives," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1056-1071, October.
    21. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Goal-Driven or Data-Driven? Inventory of Sustainability Indicator Initiatives in Rural Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-35, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jworld:v:1:y:2020:i:2:p:9-123:d:396798. 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.