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p.18-19 Sustainability
assessment may be described as a process by which the implications of an initiative
on sustainability are evaluated, where the initiative can be a proposed or existing
policy, plan, programme, project, piece of legislation, or a current practice or activity
(Pope et al., 2004, p595). Assessment methods by default tend to look for what is tangible
and measurable, while real-world phenomena and sustainability criteria are characterized
by indeterminacy and multiplicity (Ravetz, 2000, p32). The need for sustainability
assessment methods at all spatial and administrative levels is urgent as defensive
expenditure and information awareness needs to be focused on the least sustainable
sectors and priorities need to be stated. Current indicator methods often fail to:
1. Integrate the complex issues intrinsic in sustainable
development in a holistic sense
2. Model complex dynamics of human, urban or natural
systems
3. Represent bio-physical reality
4. Model the environmental implications
of trade or consumption
5. Represent socio-economic or socio-political factors
6. Include citizen participation or stakeholder transparency
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