ABSTRACT
This volume on Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) has sought to outline the underlying concepts, models, vision and methodology of an integrated SUD and to support the BEQUEST framework of analysis. In addition, particular attention has been drawn to the protocols BEQUEST members argue should be followed in carrying out an environmental assessment and evaluating the sustainability of urban development. The book is based on, and extends, proposals made by the BEQUEST network of academics and practitioners. It argues:
• SUD’s goal is to improve the quality of life in an increasingly urban population; • actions aiming to improve the quality of life need a simple, clear framework for
analysing the sustainability of urban development; • this framework for analysis needs to provide a vision and methodology which brings
such concerns into the scope of actions targeting improvements in the quality of life; • within this vision and methodology, protocols provide a middle ground between our
general understanding of sustainability issues surrounding the quality of life and the particular evaluations that can help in selecting the urban development proposals which best address them;
• in carrying out such actions, these evaluations must transcend purely environmental factors and embed themselves securely in more comprehensive and integrated environmental, social and economic assessments of SUD;
• a community of academic and professional advisers is emerging, willing and able to use new information technology as a means of undertaking these evaluations and making the knowledge of SUD they produce, available to local, regional, national and international agencies.
