Operationalising Sustainability within Smart Cities: Towards an Online Sustainability Indicator Tool

Sustainable decision making for strategic planning requires support frameworks which can analyse and interpret the multiple interactions underpinning complex urban environments. Such frameworks are often based on economic measures, consequently there is a need for a decision support framework designed to aid work towards a more holistic view of sustainable urban planning projects. As an initial step towards this framework, the authors aim to devise sustainable energy indicators designed to be flexible enough to address the vast extent of urban sustainability processes. In addition, we examine how these indicators need be designed to reflect the broad range of data sources that reflect the three pillars of sustainability, namely: environmental; economic; and social elements. The indicators have been developed specifically for the European urban environment and can be used both internally, for identification of “hot spots”, and externally, for sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement.