Urban sustainability index is designed as a new metric, which aims to measure how well a particular city is implementing sustainable practices in different areas of urban living.

Calculating urban sustainability index includes 5 categories, among which are:

1. Basic needs, that includes access to drinkable eater, healthcare, education, etc.
2. Resource efficiency, affected by power and water consumption, as well as percentage of waste recycled.
3. Commitment to future sustainability, which include creation of green jobs and investments in green energy.

Overall, I think that creating of single measure for sustainability index is achievable if and only if all interested markets provide timely data, on which a successful regression analysis can be performed in order to determine which factors affects performance.

1 Describe what the urban sustainability index proposes to do:

Emerging markets are pursuing sustainable development in which economic growth increases without hurting the environment or other valuable resources. The urban sustainability index sets up a framework to evaluate if the solutions implemented are effective. They are divided into five categories: how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment, and commitment to future sustainability.

2 Describe three components of this index and comment on whether you view this as achievable:

a. Basic Needs is access to safe water, sufficient living space, adequate health care, and education are fundamental priorities for urban populations.

b. Resource Efficiency is a city’s efficiency in such areas as the use of water and energy and the effective recycling of waste directly correlates to the quality of life of its citizens.

c. Built environment is equitable access to green space, public transportation, and dense, efficient buildings makes communities more livable and efficient.

The three components are achievable if we cooperate as a community with our governments to have sensible policies that save our environment. Basic needs are fundamentally every human beings right and we should have access to such things as safe water.

The assigned reading for April 5 under “links to weekly readings.” Read the assigned article and post your responses to the two questions by 5 PM Monday April 4.

Updated (numbered) questions are now posted. The readings, Power Points, and links to films (all of which are also on Open Lab) are included.

Theres are my photos of the tour and my report.

Extra credit john