Introduction

The Building Environmental QUality Evaluation for SusTainability (BEQUEST) network was first formed in 1996 as a pan-European network of physical, economic and social scientists and practitioners working in the areas of property development, urban planning, urban design and construction. It was supported from 1998 to 2001 by the European Union Research Directorate under the fourth Framework Programme theme, Human Dimensions of Environmental Change, as a ‘concerted action’ (BEQUEST, 2000, 2001). Fourteen research groups in six EU countries form the original core of the network. The overall aim of BEQUEST is to contribute to the practice and realisation of sustainable urban development (SUD).