Urban Facilities Management: A Systemic Process for Achieving Urban Sustainability

Abstract

With cities at the forefront of the challenge of achieving global sustainability, a key concern for urban management bodies is to identify ways to promote sustainable development at the urban and sub-urban level. Assessment mechanisms have dominated this field for the past two decades, and sustainable community assessment tools (SCATs) are fast becoming the principal framework adopted by urban planners and developers to drive sustainability. This paper investigates the efficacy and applicability of this approach to urban sustainability. The study aims to establish that the deployment of a management platform, founded in the principles of facilities management (FM), can provide better mechanisms to facilitate the process of achieving urban sustainability. The data were collected by means of survey interviews with key stakeholders who consisted of two main categories: participants from private and public sector engaged in the management and development of sustainable cities. Secondly, developers of the tools were interviewed. The tools evaluated include: LEED for Neighbourhood Development (LEED-ND), BREEAM Communities (BREEAM-C), CASBEE for Urban Development (CASBEE-UD), and Green Star Communities (GSC). It was found that the prescriptive and outcomes-based nature of assessment tools do not adequately accommodate institutional and social imperatives of urban sustainability. Additionally, a need for more a robust procedural framework to manage relationships between the various relevant professionals and interest groups was highlighted. This would provide a unified method to facilitate the achievement of urban sustainability. The paper concludes that urban sustainability needs to draw upon the management principles of FM to facilitate more comprehensive development and assessment relevant to the needs of a specific locale. Without a process-oriented method such as this, cities will continue to fall short of their sustainable imperatives.

A scoping review of community-based facilities management for public services through social enterprises in developing communities

“…This is the goal for engaging in facilities management at the community level. Boyle and Michell (2017) examined the management issue in enabling sustainability in marginalized communities in South Africa. They found that urban services can be integrated with urban governance, so urban FM provides the integrated management of services for operations and sustainability of the urban environment.…”

“…FM contributes at the strategic level by integrating the community and its facilities into the strategic plan of a city. The operational level is the operation of FM of public services for the well-being and health of those using the services (Boyle and Michell, 2017)). At the tactical level, the FM’s role is to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.…”

“…Grum and Grum (2020) focused on social sustainability and integrated the concept with quality of life. Boyle and Michell (2017) focused on how management can drive sustainability in informal settlements in South Africa using the Symbiocity approach driven by environmental and economic factors. Studies on other aspects of sustainability, such as economic sustainability, are limited.…”

At differing scales: the commonalities between green leasing and urban FM from the perspectives of sustainable urban development projects

“…Urban FM's efforts to improve the quality of the physical environment is its primary focus, whilst ensuring that there is an encompassing and holistic link between the citizens that live in this physical environment, as well as the services that support them (Salaj et al , 2020). Within the larger context of human activities in this area, using urban FM we can overcome the challenges posed when unsustainable human practices are a consequence of the way human activity is organised (Boyle and Michell, 2017, p. 449). Urban FM also has a place for fostering further innovation in this sector.…”