Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)

Measuring urban sustainability remains an arena of dispute for long time. The promotion and development of urban sustainability are important to maximize the benefits of urbanization and minimize the negative externalities in urban environment and livelihoods. Each city has its strength and weakness...

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Main Authors: K. Gashu, T. Gebre-Egziabher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lomonosov Moscow State University 2019-03-01
Series:Geography, Environment, Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ges.rgo.ru/jour/article/view/668
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author K. Gashu
T. Gebre-Egziabher
author_facet K. Gashu
T. Gebre-Egziabher
author_sort K. Gashu
collection DOAJ
description Measuring urban sustainability remains an arena of dispute for long time. The promotion and development of urban sustainability are important to maximize the benefits of urbanization and minimize the negative externalities in urban environment and livelihoods. Each city has its strength and weakness towards sustainable urban development from different perspectives of various indicators. It is understood that assessment of sustainable city is related to identification and selection of sustainable development indicators. Therefore, in this research, we tried to develop a set of indicators, and indices for sustainability assessment in Bahir Dar and Hawassa cities in Ethiopia. The study focuses on the principal indicators, and an indicator framework has developed. The main purposes of sustainability indicators are to understand sustainability, supporting decisions, directing, involving stakeholders and empowerment. Twenty-six indicators with four main dimensions (economic, socio-cultural, environmental and institutional) have been identified. The computation of urban sustainability has to take into account all four dimensions equally. In the calculation of indicators, this study chooses a standard method [0, 1] using the minimum and maximum values for each indicator as an objective indicator. The sustainability indices calculated are 0.53 and 0.52 for Bahir Dar and Hawassa respectively, indicating that both cities have a moderate performance towards the development of a sustainable city. Aggregated data demonstrates that environmental indicators are moving towards sustainability, while economic, socio-cultural and institutional dimensions are performing relatively low in both cities, suggesting that sustainability studies need to work on all of sustainability dimensions that tend to better inform concerned bodies for policy intervention.
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spelling doaj.art-f22fbab6601144ddaeee429ff21718252023-03-13T07:52:32ZengLomonosov Moscow State UniversityGeography, Environment, Sustainability2071-93882542-15652019-03-0112111913610.24057/2071-9388-2018-39357Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)K. Gashu0T. Gebre-Egziabher1University of GondarAddis Ababa UniversityMeasuring urban sustainability remains an arena of dispute for long time. The promotion and development of urban sustainability are important to maximize the benefits of urbanization and minimize the negative externalities in urban environment and livelihoods. Each city has its strength and weakness towards sustainable urban development from different perspectives of various indicators. It is understood that assessment of sustainable city is related to identification and selection of sustainable development indicators. Therefore, in this research, we tried to develop a set of indicators, and indices for sustainability assessment in Bahir Dar and Hawassa cities in Ethiopia. The study focuses on the principal indicators, and an indicator framework has developed. The main purposes of sustainability indicators are to understand sustainability, supporting decisions, directing, involving stakeholders and empowerment. Twenty-six indicators with four main dimensions (economic, socio-cultural, environmental and institutional) have been identified. The computation of urban sustainability has to take into account all four dimensions equally. In the calculation of indicators, this study chooses a standard method [0, 1] using the minimum and maximum values for each indicator as an objective indicator. The sustainability indices calculated are 0.53 and 0.52 for Bahir Dar and Hawassa respectively, indicating that both cities have a moderate performance towards the development of a sustainable city. Aggregated data demonstrates that environmental indicators are moving towards sustainability, while economic, socio-cultural and institutional dimensions are performing relatively low in both cities, suggesting that sustainability studies need to work on all of sustainability dimensions that tend to better inform concerned bodies for policy intervention.https://ges.rgo.ru/jour/article/view/668equal weightingindicator approachnormalizationurban sustainability
spellingShingle K. Gashu
T. Gebre-Egziabher
Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)
Geography, Environment, Sustainability
equal weighting
indicator approach
normalization
urban sustainability
title Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)
title_full Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)
title_fullStr Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)
title_full_unstemmed Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)
title_short Comparison Of Urban Sustainability Using Indicators Approach In The Cities Of Bahir Dar And Hawassa (Ethiopia)
title_sort comparison of urban sustainability using indicators approach in the cities of bahir dar and hawassa ethiopia
topic equal weighting
indicator approach
normalization
urban sustainability
url https://ges.rgo.ru/jour/article/view/668
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