ABSTRACT
The term ‘assessment’, as distinct from ‘audit’, has been used above to refer to methods that predict and measure negative impacts of proposed developments, plans or policies. We saw how assessment methods at the level of individual projects can perpetuate non-sustainable prototypes, as in the case of building rating tools and development control processes. To guide better design, Chapter 6 suggested a comparison of the ecology of existing development to indigenous site conditions (ET analysis). Chapter 7 introduced the idea of a sustainability audit of the surrounding urban area to indicate ways that a development could improve existing social and environmental conditions (RT analysis). This chapter looks at sustainability ‘auditing’ tools for assessing the performance of existing development, such as the ecological footprint (EF) analysis and the material flows analysis (MFA). However, it adds the element of ethics to assessment and looks primarily at the regional level. Audits of business and government organizations are discussed in Chapter 9 and include urban sustainability indicators, state of environment reporting, ecologically sustainable development reporting and corporate reporting.
