Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities

There is mounting evidence and concern that humanity is failing to equitably meet social needs while overshooting the Earth’s ecological boundaries. Efforts to monitor progress towards equitable urban sustainability have expanded significantly over the years; however, challenges remain in comprehens...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cash-Gibson, Lucinda, 1984-, Muntané Isart, Ferran, Sheehan, Mary, Tena Mensa, Júlia, Benach, Joan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/70916
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70916
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9050160
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Urban sustainability
Social equity
Indicators
Monitoring
Policy frameworks
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spelling Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European citiesCash-Gibson, Lucinda, 1984- Muntané Isart, FerranSheehan, MaryTena Mensa, JúliaBenach, JoanUrban sustainabilitySocial equityIndicatorsMonitoringPolicy frameworksThere is mounting evidence and concern that humanity is failing to equitably meet social needs while overshooting the Earth’s ecological boundaries. Efforts to monitor progress towards equitable urban sustainability have expanded significantly over the years; however, challenges remain in comprehensively assessing and comparing the progress made in different settings. To stimulate critical thinking and guide capacity-building efforts, we assessed the main dimensions and indicators used to monitor urban sustainability and equity in a selection of European cities. We analysed city reports to identify major recurring underlying themes, which we framed as guiding questions, and suggested areas for further development. The purpose was not to highlight the strengths and limitations of specific cities’ efforts. Our critical assessment identified several areas that require attention: the need for the more explicit use of theories or conceptual frameworks to select dimensions and indicators and to frame problems (and subsequently to guide intervention design); the standardisation of indicators; and improved data availability, reliability, and disaggregation to support data capturing, reporting, and comparability across settings. Despite meaningful progress, further efforts are needed to strengthen cities’ capacities to measure, monitor, and report on equitable urban sustainability. These efforts should be complemented with educational initiatives to foster the socio-cultural and behavioural changes necessary to achieve more equitable, sustainable, and healthy urban environments.MDPI202520252025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/70916http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9050160reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPFinstname:Universitat Pompeu FabraInglésUrban Science. 2025 May 8;9(5):1-11© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/709162026-06-12T07:21:37Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
title Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
spellingShingle Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
Cash-Gibson, Lucinda, 1984-
Urban sustainability
Social equity
Indicators
Monitoring
Policy frameworks
title_short Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
title_full Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
title_fullStr Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
title_full_unstemmed Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
title_sort Measuring progress in equitable urban sustainability: six key questions from European cities
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Cash-Gibson, Lucinda, 1984-
Muntané Isart, Ferran
Sheehan, Mary
Tena Mensa, Júlia
Benach, Joan
author Cash-Gibson, Lucinda, 1984-
author_facet Cash-Gibson, Lucinda, 1984-
Muntané Isart, Ferran
Sheehan, Mary
Tena Mensa, Júlia
Benach, Joan
author_role author
author2 Muntané Isart, Ferran
Sheehan, Mary
Tena Mensa, Júlia
Benach, Joan
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Urban sustainability
Social equity
Indicators
Monitoring
Policy frameworks
topic Urban sustainability
Social equity
Indicators
Monitoring
Policy frameworks
description There is mounting evidence and concern that humanity is failing to equitably meet social needs while overshooting the Earth’s ecological boundaries. Efforts to monitor progress towards equitable urban sustainability have expanded significantly over the years; however, challenges remain in comprehensively assessing and comparing the progress made in different settings. To stimulate critical thinking and guide capacity-building efforts, we assessed the main dimensions and indicators used to monitor urban sustainability and equity in a selection of European cities. We analysed city reports to identify major recurring underlying themes, which we framed as guiding questions, and suggested areas for further development. The purpose was not to highlight the strengths and limitations of specific cities’ efforts. Our critical assessment identified several areas that require attention: the need for the more explicit use of theories or conceptual frameworks to select dimensions and indicators and to frame problems (and subsequently to guide intervention design); the standardisation of indicators; and improved data availability, reliability, and disaggregation to support data capturing, reporting, and comparability across settings. Despite meaningful progress, further efforts are needed to strengthen cities’ capacities to measure, monitor, and report on equitable urban sustainability. These efforts should be complemented with educational initiatives to foster the socio-cultural and behavioural changes necessary to achieve more equitable, sustainable, and healthy urban environments.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025
2025
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info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70916
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9050160
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70916
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9050160
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Urban Science. 2025 May 8;9(5):1-11
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
instname:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
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