The development of SUCCEED: urban sustainability assessment tool for developing countries with focus on Nigeria

Abstract

PurposeDeveloping countries are currently on the verge of adopting principles used in achieving a sustainable urban future. As the urban population increases due to factors like urban–rural migration, increase in birth rate, migration, industrialisation, commercialisation, amongst others, there is a drastic need to adopt sustainability principles within urban spaces. To understand how sustainability can be achieved, there is a need to recognise how developed countries have designed assessment tools that work within their context which can inform how developing countries can work on their assessment tool. Urban neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools are used to reflect on the overall goal of the project and the most important indicators needed to be implemented within the project. Sustainability indicators are used to measure the levels and progress at which sustainability has been implemented within a project based on the data collected and these results can be used to make informed decisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of urban sustainability assessment tool.Design/methodology/approachThis research investigates the techniques utilised in developing an urban sustainability assessment tool Sustainable Composite Cities Environmental Evaluation and Design (SUCCEED-ND) tool within the Nigerian context. The data instrument used includes a questionnaire survey that sampled 50 correspondents, and the results were used to develop an urban assessment tool tailored for the Nigerian countries.FindingsThe findings used social, environmental, economic and planning sustainability dimensions in the design of the assessment tool which composes of 21 core sustainability indicators and 105 indicators to develop SUCCEED-ND tool.Originality/valueThis work developed the first urban sustainability assessment tool for the Nigerian urban environment. The result is meant to evaluate and implement sustainability within existing and proposed neighbourhood development.

Global South research priorities for neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools

“…Yigitcanlar et al . (2015) and Momoh et al . (2021) used the Delphi method to create context-sensitive tools in their respective contexts.…”

“…(2021) used the Delphi method to create context-sensitive tools in their respective contexts. Momoh et al . (2021) conclude in their study with the SUCCEED tool for the Nigerian urban environment.…”

“…The relatively limited and scarce applications OHI 49,1 and analyses of NSATs in the Global South create significant blind spots for current Global South research priorities and themes for researchers and academics. The current research on environmental assessment systems for buildings is considered satisfactory, yet the body of research on the neighbourhood scale is still quite limited, specifically in cities of Global South [1] (Kamble and Bahadure, 2020;Momoh et al, 2021). Recent studies have divided this area of knowledge into two categories; case study-based studies on the efficiency of a single assessment indicator and second, comparative studies of different sustainability assessment standards, whether between rating systems, specific criteria, or to validate results between a given case study and a tool (Dang et al, 2020).…”

“…),Yigitcanlar et al (2015),Momoh et al (2021),Moroke et al (2019) andAmeen and Mourshed (2019) focused more on the product, where they developed frameworks/checklists utilizing numerous methods. The research products are always aimed at producing a context-sensitive tool, whether it is a framework, checklist, model, or other Yigitcanlar et al (2015).…”

“…The research products are always aimed at producing a context-sensitive tool, whether it is a framework, checklist, model, or other Yigitcanlar et al (2015). andMomoh et al (2021) used the Delphi method to create contextsensitive tools in their respective contexts.Momoh et al (…”