The City Sustainability Index (CSI): How Should the Sustainability of Megacities Be Assessed?

We have developed a model of a City Sustainability Index (CSI) based on our original concept of city sustainability in which a sustainable city is defined as one that maximizes socioeconomic benefits while meeting constraint conditions of the environment and socioeconomic equity on a permanent basis. The CSI is based on constraint and maximization indicators. Constraint indicators assess whether a city meets the necessary minimum conditions for city sustainability. Maximization indicators measure the benefits that a city generates in socioeconomic aspects. When used in the policy-making process, the choice of constraint indicators should be implemented using a top-down approach. In contrast, a bottom-up approach is more suitable for defining maximization indicators because this technique involves multiple stakeholders in a transdisciplinary approach.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Faculty of Economics, Shiga University, Hikone, Shiga, Japan Koichiro Mori

1. Koichiro Mori

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Editors and Affiliations

1. Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Kyoto, Japan Shin Muramatsu
2. Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Terry G. McGee
3. Faculty of Economics, Shiga University, Hikone, Shiga, Japan Koichiro Mori

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Mori, K. (2021). The City Sustainability Index (CSI): How Should the Sustainability of Megacities Be Assessed?. In: Muramatsu, S., McGee, T.G., Mori, K. (eds) Living in the Megacity: Towards Sustainable Urban Environments. Global Environmental Studies. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56901-5_9

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