Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Spatial Entities with Anthropogenic Activities-Evaluation of Existing Methods

Despoina Aktsoglou and Georgios Gaidajis
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Despoina Aktsoglou: Laboratory of Environmental Management and Industrial Ecology, Department of Production Engineering and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece
Georgios Gaidajis: Laboratory of Environmental Management and Industrial Ecology, Department of Production Engineering and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: The aim of this study is to evaluate the existing available methods that can potentially be applied to anthropogenic spatial entities to access their environmental sustainability. The paper offers an overview of existing sustainability assessment methods, discusses their adequacy, and evaluates their efficiency to assess the environmental sustainability of anthropogenic spatial entities. From a list of sixty-one (61) sustainability assessment methods for spatial entities with anthropogenic activities that had been identified and examined, thirteen (13) methods were selected to be assessed based on specific exclusion criteria set. The thirteen methods were further classified into four categories, namely, (1) Indicators/Indices, (2) Resource Availability Assessment, (3) Material and Energy Flow Analysis, and (4) Life-Cycle Assessment, and then these methods were evaluated using specific evaluation criteria. The “Resource Availability Assessment” category, and particularly the “Ecological Footprint” method, was indicated as the most appropriate method to assess the environmental sustainability of anthropogenic spatial entities.

Keywords: environmental sustainability; sustainable development; environmental assessment; anthropogenic spatial entities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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