Developing Citylab Post-Construction—A Swedish Certification System to Evaluate the Sustainability of Urban Areas

Jonas Lind, Tove Malmqvist and Josefin Wangel
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Jonas Lind: Sweden Green Building Council, Långholmsgatan 34, 117 33 Stockholm, Sweden
Tove Malmqvist: Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Josefin Wangel: Department of Urban and Rural Development, SLU Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7012, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: This paper describes the development of Citylab Post-Construction, a Swedish certification system for evaluating the sustainability performance of urban areas in a post-construction phase once the area is inhabited. The process design was based on transdisciplinary and research-through-design approaches, and involved experts and practitioners within Swedish urban planning, real estate and construction sector. This paper is not highlighting the certification system per se, but rather the process of developing it, with the aim of increasing the understanding of such design processes. A previously developed, but so far untested, framework of key considerations for certification systems was used to clarify benefits and drawbacks of different design decisions. The framework was used in all steps of the process, from defining the overall structure, to selecting indicators, formulating detailed requirements and assessing comments of the open consultation of a draft version. The framework of key considerations proved useful in supporting this process, by highlighting conflicts as well as synergies and creating transparency with respect to trade-offs needed between being e.g., scientifically credible but still practical enough. While it is difficult to separate the framework from the process in which it was put to use, we believe that the framework can be supportive also in other processes, both for developing new certification systems or for refining and evaluating existing ones.

Keywords: sustainability; indicators; certification system; urban development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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