Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1 The classic
dimensions of sustainable
development (source
Tanguay et al.
2010
)
'unsustainable' actions in the planning areas (Broekhof and van Marwijk
2012
).
As a result, areas of urban development can be mapped as sustainable, semi-
sustainable, or non-sustainable.
Geographic visualization plays an important role in any spatial rating to ensure
reliable and consistent outcome. Rating using non-spatial indicators usually results
in statistics that can only be viewed as words and numbers; its usefulness in the
spatial context is quite limited. On the other hand, spatial indicators can be a more
meaningful way of generating spatial information thus assisting users on decision
making and enhancing policy by perfect viewing of sustainable urban development
with multi-layered information included at one time. Broekhof and van Marwijk
(
2012
) have argued that maps can give valuable information to develop sustainable
policies at the local scale.
This study attempts to improve the approach to assessing sustainable urban
development adopted by MurniNet. In particular, this study attempts to demon-
strate how spatial information can be generated to assess urban development
sustainability. In all, this study proposes the incorporation of spatial indicators to
help the local authority and policy makers to assess urban development sustain-
ability in a more visualized manner.
2 Assessment of Sustainable Urban Development
Sustainability
The literature on through-time urban sustainability assessment techniques con-
ducted using built-environment quality evaluation framework (BEQUEST) reveals
several methods available for sustainability assessment of urban activities (Deakin
