Measuring urban sustainability and liveability performance: the City Analysis Methodology

The rise in the influence of sustainability principles has resulted in an almost overwhelming number of methods for defining, measuring and assessing sustainability and liveability. For such assessments to be accurate they must have a clearly defined ‘sustainability and liveability space’, be designed for the context in which the measurements are to be taken, evidence a clear causal chain and make explicit interdependencies. The degree to which current methods meet these criteria is varied. This paper introduces the City Analysis Methodology (CAM), an innovative urban analysis framework for holistically measuring the performance of UK cities with regard to sustainability and liveability. It demonstrates the need for, and defines the parameters for, interventions that enhance rather than compromise wellbeing and provides a model for other countries to leverage the sustainability and liveability of their cities. The paper concludes with an application of the CAM to the design of city infrastructure.