Defining and measuring urban sustainability: a review of indicators | Landscape Ecology Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Defining and measuring urban sustainability: a review of indicators

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

The sustainability of urban areas is essential to the sustainability of regions, nations, and the world as a whole. Urban sustainability indicators (USIs) can play an important role in advancing the science and practice of sustaining urban systems.

Objectives

We review the key concepts of urban sustainability and commonly used indicators for gauging the state and progress of urban sustainability, and discuss how USIs can be further improved from a landscape ecology perspective.

Methods

This review is based primarily on peer-reviewed journal papers, as well as books, and documents published by international organizations, governmental agencies, and research institutions. We systematically examine what USIs actually measure and whether they are adequate for gauging urban sustainability, and then discuss major problems and challenges as well as ways forward in developing and applying USIs.

Results

Numerous USIs have been developed, including single composite indices and indicator sets. This paper focuses on three indicator sets and ten composite indices. Eight of them cover all the three dimensions of sustainability (environment, economy, and society), and five cover two of the three. Five of them measure strong sustainability, and eight only indicate weak sustainability.

Conclusions

Urban sustainability indicators abound, and so do problems with them. These include technical issues of normalization, weighting, and aggregation (upscaling), as well as conceptual issues of indicator selection, boundary delineation, heterogeneity, scale, and strong versus weak sustainability. To overcome these problems, principles and methods in landscape ecology—particularly those of landscape metrics, spatial scaling, and landscape sustainability—have much to offer, and this represents a challenging and fruitful research direction for both landscape and urban scientists in the coming decades.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
¥17,985 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Japan)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alberti M (1996) Measuring urban sustainability. Environ Impact Assess Rev 16:381–424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anielski M, Johannessen H (2009) The Edmonton 2008 Genuine Progress Indicator Report, Edmonton

  • Ayres RU (2000) Commentary on the utility of the ecological footprint concept. Ecol Econ 32:347–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batty M (2011) When all the world’s a city. Environment and Planning A 43(4):765–772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumann H (2010) Life cycle assessments (LCAs). In: Christensen K, Fogel D, Wagner G, Whitehouse P (eds) Berkshire encyclopedia of sustainability, vol II., The business of sustainabilityBerkshire Publishing, Great Barrington, pp 309–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell S, Morse S (2008) Sustainability indicators: measuring the immeasurable?. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohringer C, Jochem PEP (2007) Measuring the immeasurable—a survey of sustainability indices. Ecol Econ 63(1):1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braat L (1991) The predictive meaning of sustainability indicators. In: Kuik O, Verbruggen H (eds) In search of indicators of sustainable development. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 57–70

  • Bringezu S, Schutz H, Moll S (2003) Rational for and interpretation of economy-wide materials flow analysis and derived indicators. J Ind Ecol 7:43–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camagni R (1998) Sustainable urban development: definition and reasons for a research programme. Int J Environ Pollut 10(1):6–27

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chester M, Pincetl S, Allenby B (2012) Avoiding unintended tradeoffs by integrating life-cycle impact assessment with urban metabolism. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 4(4):451–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark WC, Dickson NM (2003) Sustainability science: the emerging research program. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), vol 100, pp. 8059–8061

  • Costanza R, Erickson J, Fligger K, Adams A, Adams C, Altschuler B, Balter S, Fisher B, Hike J, Kelly J, Kerr T, McCauley M, Montone K, Rauch M, Schmiedeskamp K, Saxton D, Sparacino L, Tusinski W, Williams L (2004) Estimates of the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) for Vermont, Chittenden County and Burlington, from 1950 to 2000. Ecol Econ 51(1–2):139–155

  • Daly HE (1995) On Wilfred Beckerman’s critique of sustainable development. Environ Values 4:49–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly HE, Cobb J (1989) For the common good: redirecting the economy towards community, the environment, and a sustainable future. Beacon Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Decker EH, Elliott S, Smith FA, Blake DR, Rowland FS (2000) Energy and material flow through the urban ecosystem. Annu Rev Energy Environ 25:685–740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz S, Neumayer E (2007) Corruption, the resource curse and genuine saving. Environ Dev Econ 12:33–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eddy IMS, Gergel SE (2015) Why landscape ecologists should contribute to life cycle sustainability approaches. Landscape Ecol. doi:10.1007/s10980-014-0135-7

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekins P (2011) Environmental sustainability: from environmental valuation to the sustainability gap. Prog Phys Geog 35(5):629–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekins P, Simon S (1999) The sustainability gap: a practical indicator of sustainability in the framework of the national accounts. Int J Sustain Dev 2:32–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekins P, Simon S, Deutsch L, Folke C, De Groot R (2003) A framework for the practical application of the concepts of critical natural capital and strong sustainability. Ecol Econ 44:165–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elmqvist T, Fragkias M, Goodness J, Güneralp B, Marcotullio PJ, McDonald RI, Parnell S, Schewenius M, Sendstad M, Seto KC, Wilkinson C (eds) (2013) Urbanization, biodiversity and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities. Springer, Dordrecht

  • Esty DC, Levy MA, Srebotnjak T, de Sherbinin A (2005) Environmental Sustainability Index: Benchmarking National Environmental Stewardship. Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurostat (2001) Economy-wide material flow accounts and derived indicators: a methodological guide. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiala N (2008) Measuring sustainability: Why the ecological footprint is bad economics and bad environmental science. Ecol Econ 67:519–525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnveden G, Hauschild MZ, Ekvall T, Guinee J, Heijungs R, Hellweg S, Koehler A, Pennington D, Suh S (2009) Recent developments in life cycle assessment. J Environ Manag 91:1–21

  • Fischer J, Manning AD, Steffen W, Rose DB, Daniell K, Felton A, Garnett S, Gilna B, Heinsohn R, Lindenmayer DB, MacDonald B, Mills F, Newell B, Reid J, Robin L, Sherren K, Wade A (2007) Mind the sustainability gap. Trends Ecol Evol 22(12):621–624

  • Fischer-Kowalski M, Krausmann F, Giljum S, Lutter S, Mayer A, Bringezu S, Moriguchi Y, Schutz H, Schandl H, Weisz H (2011) Methodology and indicators of economy-wide material flow accounting: state of the art and reliability across sources. J Ind Ecol 15:855–875

  • Forman RTT (2008) Urban regions: ecology and planning beyond the city. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gallopin GC (1997) Indicators and their use: information for decision-making. In: Moldan B, Billharz S (eds) Sustainability indicators. Wiley, New York, pp 13–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein B, Birkved M, Quitzau MB, Hauschild M (2013) Quantification of urban metabolism through coupling with the life cycle assessment framework: concept development and case study. Environ Res Lett 8(3):035024

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golubiewski N (2012) Is there a metabolism of an urban ecosystem? An ecological critique. Ambio 41(7):751–764

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greasley D, Hanley N, Kunnas J, McLaughlin E, Oxley L, Warde P (2014) Testing genuine savings as a forward-looking indicator of future well-being over the (very) long-run. J Environ Econ Manag 67(2):171–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE, Redman CL, Wu J, Bai X, Briggs JM (2008) Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319(5864):756–760

  • Haberl H, Fischer-Kowalski M, Krausmann F, Weisz H, Winiwarter V (2004) Progress towards sustainability? What the conceptual framework of material and energy flow accounting (MEFA) can offer. Land Use Policy 21:199–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hak T, Moldan B, Dahl AL (eds) (2007) Sustainability Indicators: a scientific assessment. Island Press, Washington, D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton K, Clemens M (1999) Genuine savings rates in developing countries. World Bank Econ Rev 13(2):333–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton A, Mitchell G, Yli-Karjanmaa S (2002) The BEQUEST toolkit: a decision support system for urban sustainability. Buil Res Inform 30(2):109–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland A (1997) Substitutability: or, why strong sustainability is weak and absurdly strong sustainability is not absurd. In: Foster J (ed) Valuing nature? Ethics, economics and the environment. Routledge, London, pp 119–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsu A, Emerson J, Levy M, Sherbinin Ad, Johnson L, Malik O, Schwartz J, Jaiteh M (2014) The 2014 Environmental Performance Index. Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, New Haven. Available from http://www.epi.yale.edu

  • Huang S-L, Chen L-L (2002) Urban indicators as measurement of Taiwan’s sustainability. In: Douglas I, Huang S-L (eds) Urbanization, East Asia and habitat II. Chung-Hua Institution of Economic Research, Taipei, pp 237–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang SL, Hsu WL (2003) Materials flow analysis and emergy evaluation of Taipei’s urban construction. Landsc Urban Plan 63(2):61–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang SL, Wong JH, Chen TC (1998) A framework of indicator system for measuring Taipei’s urban sustainability. Landsc Urban Planning 42(1):15–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson L, Echeverria C, Nahuelhual L, Luque S (2014) Ecosystem services in changing landscapes: an introduction. Landscape Ecol 29(2):181–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jollands N (2006) How to aggregate sustainable development indicators: a proposed framework and its application. Intern J Agricul Resour Govern Ecol 5:18–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones KB, Zurlini G, Kienast F, Petrosillo I, Edwards T, Wade T, Li B-l, Zaccarelli N (2013) Informing landscape planning and design for sustaining ecosystem services from existing spatial patterns and knowledge. Landscape Ecol 28(6):1175–1192

  • Kates RW, Clark WC, Corell R, Hall JM, Jaeger CC, Lowe I, McCarthy JJ, Schellnhuber HJ, Bolin B, Dickson NM, Faucheux S, Gallopin GC, Grubler A, Huntley B, Jager J, Jodha NS, Kasperson RE, Mabogunje A, Matson P, Mooney H, Moore III B, O'Riordan T, Svedin U (2001) Sustainability Science. Science 292:641–642

  • Kennedy C, Pincetl S, Bunje P (2011) The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design. Environ Pollut 159(8–9):1965–1973

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy C, Stewart ID, Ibrahim N, Facchini A, Mele R (2014) Developing a multi-layered indicator set for urban metabolism studies in megacities. Ecol Ind 47:7–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krajnc D, Glavi P (2005) A model for integrated assessment of sustainable development. Resour Conserv Recycl 43(2):189–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kubiszewski I, Costanza R, Franco C, Lawn P, Talberth J, Jackson T, Aylmer C (2013) Beyond GDP: measuring and achieving global genuine progress. Ecol Econ 93:57–68

  • Lawn PA (2003) A theoretical foundation to support the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and other related indexes. Ecol Econ 44:105–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee Y-J, Huang C-M (2007) Sustainability index for Taipei. Environ Impact Assess Rev 27(6):505–521

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leigh A, Wolfers J (2006) Happiness and the human development index: Australia is not a paradox. Aust Econ Rev 39(2):176–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li C, Li J, Wu J (2013) Quantifying the speed, growth modes, and landscape pattern changes of urbanization: a hierarchical patch dynamics approach. Landscape Ecol 28:1875–1888

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu ZF, He CY, Zhou YY, Wu JG (2014) How much of the world’s land has been urbanized, really? A hierarchical framework for avoiding confusion. Landscape Ecol 29:763–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luck M, Jenerette GD, Wu J, Grimm NB (2001) The urban funnel model and the spatially heterogeneous ecological footprint. Ecosystems 4:782–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadows D (ed) (1998) Indicators and information systems for sustainable development. Sustainability Institute, Hartland Four Corners

    Google Scholar 

  • Mega V (2013) Insights from the future: trends, risks, and opportunities. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mega V, Pedersen J (1998) Urban Sustainability Indicators. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin

    Google Scholar 

  • Moffatt I (2000) Ecological footprints and sustainable development. Ecol Econ 32:359–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moldan B, Billharz S (eds) (1997) Sustainability indicators: report of the project on indicators of sustainable development. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Moldan B, Janoušková S, Hák T (2012) How to understand and measure environmental sustainability: Indicators and targets. Ecol Ind 17:4–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morse S, McNamara N, Acholo M, Okwoli B (2001) Sustainability indicators: the problem of integration. Sustain Dev 9:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morse S, Vogiatzakis I, Griffiths G (2011) Space and sustainability: potential for landscape as a spatial unit for assessing sustainability. Sustain Dev 19:30–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munier N (2007) Handbook on urban sustainability. Springer, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nardo M, Saisana M, Saltelli A, Tarantola S (2005) Tools for composite indicators building. European Commission, EUR 21682 EN, Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, Ispra

    Google Scholar 

  • Nassauer JI, Wu JG, Xiang WN (2014) Actionable urban ecology in China and the world: integrating ecology and planning for sustainable cities. Landsc Urban Plan 125:207–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • New Economics Foundation (2009) THE HAPPY PLANET INDEX 2.0

  • NRC (1999) Our common journey: a transition toward sustainability. National Academy Press, Washington D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • NRC (2004) Materials count: the case for material flows analysis. National Academies Press, Washington D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (1993) OECD Core set of indicators for environmental performance reviews. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Olewiler N (2006) Environmental sustainability for urban areas: the role of natural capital indicators. Cities 23(3):184–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce DW, Atkinson GD (1993) Capital theory and the measurement of sustainable development: an indicator of “weak” sustainability. Ecol Econ 8:103–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett STA, Cadenasso ML, Grove JM, Boone CG, Groffman PM, Irwin E, Kaushal SS, Marshall V, McGrath BP, Nilon CH, Pouyat RV, Szlavecz K, Troy A, Warren P (2011) Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress. J Environ Manag 92(3):331–362

  • Pillarisetti JR (2005) The World Bank’s ‘genuine savings’ measure and sustainability. Ecol Econ 55(4):599–609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pincetl S, Bunje P, Holmes T (2012) An expanded urban metabolism method: toward a systems approach for assessing urban energy processes and causes. Landsc Urban Plan 107(3):193–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Posner SM, Costanza R (2011) A summary of ISEW and GPI studies at multiple scales and new estimates for Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and the State of Maryland. Ecol Econ 70(11):1972–1980

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potschin M, Haines-Young R (2013) Landscapes, sustainability and the place-based analysis of ecosystem services. Landscape Ecol 28(6):1053–1065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powers CM, Dana G, Gillespie P, Gwinn MR, Hendren CO, Long TC, Wang A, Davids JM (2012) Comprehensive environmental assessment: a meta-assessment approach. Environ Sci Technol 46:9202–9208

  • Prescott-Allen R (1997) Barometer of sustainability. In: Moldan B, Billharz S, Matravers R (eds) Sustainability indicators: a report on the project on indicators of sustainable development. Wiley, Chichester, pp 133–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Prescott-Allen R (2001) The wellbeing of nations: a country-by-country index of quality of life and the environment. Island Press, Washington, Covelo, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Raudsepp-Hearne C, Peterson GD, Tengo M, Bennett EM, Holland T, Benessaiah K, MacDonald GK, Pfeifer L (2010) Untangling the environmentalalist’s paradox: why is human well-being increasing as ecosystem services degrade? Bioscience 60:576–589

  • Rees WE (1996) Revisiting carrying capacity: area-based indicators of sustainability. Popul Environ: J Interdiscip Stud 17(3):195–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rees WE (2000) Eco-footprint analysis: merits and brickbats. Ecol Econ 32(3):371–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rees W, Wackernagel M (1996) Urban ecological footprints: Why cities cannot be sustainable and why they are a key to sustainability. Environ Impact Assess Rev 16:223–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers P, Srinivasan S (2007) Comparing sustainable cities: examples from China, India and the USA. In: Keiner M (ed) Sustainable development in China: Wishful thinking or reality? Monsenstein and Vannerdat, Munich, pp 85–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen L-Y, Jorge Ochoa J, Shah MN, Zhang X (2011) The application of urban sustainability indicators—a comparison between various practices. Habitat Intern 35(1):17–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanners D, Bourdeau P (1995) Europe’s environment: the DobriS assessment. Eur Environ Agency, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Talberth J, Cobb C, Slattery N (eds) (2006) The Genuine Progress Indicator 2006: a tool for sustainable development. Redefining progress, The nature of economics. http://www.rprogress.org

  • Tanguay GA, Rajaonson J, Lefebvre J-Fo, Lanoie P (2010) Measuring the sustainability of cities: an analysis of the use of local indicators. Ecol Indic 10(2):407–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner II BL, Lambin EF, Reenberg A (2007) The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 104, pp. 20666–20671

  • Turner BL II, Janetos AC, Verburg PH, Murray AT (2013) Land system architecture: using land systems to adapt and mitigate global environmental change. Glob Environ Change 23(2):395–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN-Habitat (2002) Global Urban Indicators Database Version 2. United Nations Human Settlements Programme

  • UN-Habitat (2012) State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities. United Nations Human Settlements Programme

  • United Nations (2007) Indicators of sustainable development: guidelines and methodologies, 3rd edn. United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) (1997) Regional development planning and management of urbanization: experiences from developing countries. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) (1996) The habitat agenda goals and principles, commitments and the global plan of action. http://www.un-documents.net/ha-1.htm

  • Van de Kerk G, Manuel AR (2008) A comprehensive index for a sustainable society: the SSI—the Sustainable Society Index. Ecol Econ 66(2–3):228–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van den Bergh JCJM, Grazi F (2010) On the policy relevance of ecological footprints. Environ Sci Technol 44:4843–4844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van den Bergh JCJM, Verbruggen H (1999) Spatial sustainability, trade and indicators: an evaluation of the ‘ecological footprint’. Ecol Econ 29:61–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Venetoulis J, Cobb C (2004) The Genuine Progress Indicator 1950–2002 (2004 Update). San Francisco

  • Verburg PH, Erb K-H, Mertz O, Espindola G (2013) Land System Science: between global challenges and local realities. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 5(5):433–437

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel M, Rees WE (1996) Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on the earth. New Society Publishers, British Columbia

    Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel M, Schulz NB, Deumling D, Linares AC, Jenkins M, Kapos V, Monfreda C, Loh J, Myers N, Norgaard R, Randers J (2002) Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 99:9266–9271

  • WCED (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wen ZG, Zhang KM, Huang L, Du B, Chen WQ, Li W (2005) Genuine saving rate: an integrated indicator to measure urban sustainable development towards an ecocity. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 12(2):184–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wen Z, Zhang K, Du B, Li Y, Li W (2007) Case study on the use of genuine progress indicator to measure urban economic welfare in China. Ecol Econ 63:463–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wieldmann T, Barrett J (2010) A review of the ecological footprint indicator—perceptions and methods. Sustainability 2:1645–1693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolman A (1965) The metabolism of cities. Sci Am 213(3):179–190

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (1997) Expanding the measure of wealth: indicators of environmentally sustainable development. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worldwatch Institute (2007) State of the world: our urban future. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG (1999) Hierarchy and scaling: extrapolating information along a scaling ladder. Can J Remote Sens 25(4):367–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG (2010) Urban sustainability: an inevitable goal of landscape research. Landscape Ecol 25(1):1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG (2013) Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landscape Ecol 28(6):999–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG (2014) Urban ecology and sustainability: The state-of-the-science and future directions. Landsc Urban Plan 125:209–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG, Wu T (2010) Green GDP. In: Christensen K, Fogel D, Wagner G, Whitehouse P (eds) Berkshire encyclopedia of sustainability, vol II., The business of sustainabilityBerkshire Publishing, Great Barrington, pp 248–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG, Wu T (2012) Sustainability indicators and indices: an overview. In: Madu CN, Kuei C (eds) Handbook of Sustainable Management. Imperial College Press, London, pp 65–86

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wu JG, Xiang W-N, Zhao JZ (2014) Urban ecology in China: Historical developments and future directions. Landsc Urban Plan 125:222–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang K, Wen Z, Du B, Song G (2008) A multiple-indicators approach to monitoring urban sustainable development. In: Carreiro MM, Song YC, Wu JG (eds) Ecology, planning and management of urban forests: international perspectives. Springer, New York, pp 35–52

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao JZ (2011) Towards sustainable cities in China: analysis and assessment of some Chinese Cities in 2008. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao CR, Zhou B, Su X (2014) Evaluation of urban eco-security—a case study of Mianyang City, China. Sustainability 6(4):2281–2299

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank three reviewers for their comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper. JW’s research in urban ecology and urban sustainability has been supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation through Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (DEB 9714833, DEB-0423704, and BCS-1026865) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology through the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB954303, 2014CB954300).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecological Planning and Landscape Design, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Lu Huang & Lijiao Yan

  2. School of Life Sciences & School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Jianguo Wu

  3. Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jianguo Wu

Authors
  1. Lu Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianguo Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lijiao Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lijiao Yan.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (XLSX 64 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huang, L., Wu, J. & Yan, L. Defining and measuring urban sustainability: a review of indicators. Landscape Ecol 30, 1175–1193 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0208-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0208-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation