New Report Tracks Progress on Sustainability in Britain’s Biggest Cities
Posted in Research by fedwards on January 21st, 2009
The Sustainable Cities Index tracks progress on sustainability in Britain’s largest cities, ranking them on environmental performance, quality of life and future-proofing. It enables city leaders to track their progress against a set of indicators relating to factors which councils are able to influence. Bristol has ousted Brighton and Hove to become Britain’s most sustainable city, with Plymouth third. The report reveals a clear north-south divide particularly on quality of life, but Newcastle has managed to buck this trend coming in fourth. The project has been endorsed by Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association: “Forum for the Future’s Sustainable Cities Index has driven real change by inspiring cities to adopt more ambitious sustainability strategies and by providing a framework against which they can benchmark their efforts.â€
The Sustainable Cities Index ranks cities in three baskets. Although Bristol achieved first place overall, in the individual baskets the positions were as follows:
· Environmental (nitrogen oxides (NOx), river water quality, household waste collected per head and ecological footprint) – Plymouth overtakes Bradford, which scored most highly in this basket in 2007
· Quality of life (employment, education, transport, life expectancy and resident satisfaction with green space ) – Brighton and Hove retains first place
· Future proofing (local authority commitments on climate change, biodiversity, the number of green businesses per capita and recycling rates) – Brighton and Hove retains first place.
With over half the world’s population living in cities and with around nine out of ten people in the UK living in urban areas, cities represent the future of sustainable living. For this reason working with cities is an important part of Forum’s activities. We are currently engaged in an ambitious programme in Bristol, aimed at making it the most sustainable city-region in the UK and one of the top green cities in the world. We’re doing this by building on the vision and drive of the city council and joining it up with the work of businesses, NGOs and community groups. Click here to find out more.
We want to raise the debate about what constitutes a sustainable city, bring rigour to this debate and encourage competitiveness among Britain’s cities.
For more info, email Audrey Healy at a.healy @forumforthefuture.org.
To find out more about Forum for the Future, click here.
