DOI: 10.5176/2425-0112_UPPD18.129
Authors: Ogenis Brilhante and Julia Skinner
Abstract: The dispersed urbanization process dominant in the 20th century spurred the development of many theories, concepts, policies and tools trying to accommodate the growth of cities without impairing sustainability. The Green City Concept (GCC) is one of the latest. This paper introduces a Green City Conceptual Framework (IHS-GCCF) and two tools: one to measure city Environmental Performance (EP) over time called Green City Index (IHS-GCI) and the other is a Green City Action Planning methodology (GCAP) which contains innovative approaches to improve the city’s EP for a chosen timeline. The IHS-GCI can be used to measure EP, to explain possible factors influencing the calculated EPs over time, set targets, track achievements and help in the preparation of a city’s GCAP. The GCCF and the tools are adaptable to individual city needs. By applying the tools to ten Asian cities at IHS during 2016 -18, the paper shows that Hong Kong and Singapore had the highest EP and Bangalore the biggest reduction in EP in the study period. A strong increase in population size is behind this reduction in EP. Implementation of water management and climate change strategies are factors explaining the improvement in Hong Kong’s EP. The sanitation and waste sectors have strong significant correlations with total EPs. Implementation of a GCAP largely depends on strong political will, institutional linkages and the integration of cultural and social acceptance. The views and initiatives of different stakeholders using a bottom-up approach and familiarity with the city and its environmental context are very important to develop a viable and realistic action planning. The paper addresses a range of gaps in the green city field and consolidates prior research into one actionable conceptual framework and tools.
Keywords: Green City Framework, Method Index, Environmental Performance Over Time, Green City Action Planning, Sustainability, Energy
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