Making sustainability development goals (SDGs) operational at suburban level: Potentials and limitations of neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools

Urban sustainability plays a central role in the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the local level. The emphasis on major interventions, and large projects and infrastructures may overlook the cumulative beneficial impacts of widespread smaller urban transformations at the neighbourhood level. However, there is insufficient research on how to operationalise the SDGs at such suburban scale. This study aims to contribute to fill this gap by examining the usefulness of Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment (NSA) tools for operationalising the 17 SDGs. The comparative analysis between the three NSA tools examined in this paper – LEED, BREEAM and ITACA – reveals their differences and complementarities with respect to different targets of the SDGs. In general, the findings of this study show that the main scopes of interest of these tools are related to general urban issues (SDG11), climate action (SDG 13), responsible production and innovation (SDG 9 and 12), and in part also to goals on social wellbeing (SDG 3, 8, 9), whereas other SDGs are less represented, although several indicators proposed by NSA tools could indirectly contribute to assessing progress on those goals. Besides providing a framework for assessing the correspondence and compliance of NSA tools to the SDGs, the proposed method of analysis also allows to verify the consistencies and the discrepancies between different NSA tools, pointing at their potentials and limitations. Hence, this study can provide insights and can suggest guidance and recommendations for overcoming some of the current limitations of the NSA tools, and more in general for the design of neighbourhood evaluation systems more directly and cogently targeting the SDGs. In this sense, the findings of this study can support local administrations and planners in the design and implementation of SDG-targeting policies, plans and projects aiming at systemic sustainability.