ABSTRACT
The BEQUEST ‘concerted action’ derives from an acceptance that sustainable development (SD) was and remains a contested concept (Curwell et al., 2005; Bentivegna et al., 2002). Thus BEQUEST was posited on the need for consultation and negotiation in order to develop consensus across a wide range of actors from both the demand supply sides of the urban property and infrastructure sectors on what SUD constitutes and how interventions in cities might support more sustainable living and working (Curwell et al., 1998). To this end, a wide consultative network was established, described as the ‘BEQUEST Extranet’, to include representatives of all actors from across the EU. At the outset a collaborative research project was proposed in which the researchers took part in dynamic interaction between all the actors 1 as shown in Figure 2.1, which illustrates the context of research and indicates how the views of the various actors were to be combined within the research programme. The diagram also shows how the work was to make use of existing sustainability blueprints to produce new sustainability protocols that can be applied locally to enhance sustainability in building and infrastructure development. It was envisaged that these protocols would be supported by an internet-based decision support system or aid, to be known as the ‘BEQUEST Toolkit’, to assist planners and others in their interpretation and application of the concept. The Toolkit (BEQUEST, 2001) was planned to address the needs of all stakeholders working in, or affected by, urban development (Davoudi, 2005). Research context https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203886786/23b46723-fda7-404b-82e7-133c6f699c2a/content/fig2_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
